The Thai Farmers Association is urging the government to set a paddy rice quota for farmers to prevent land owners from exploiting the rice mortgage scheme and leaving farmers broke.

Wichean Puanglamchiak, vice-president of Thai Farmers Association, said the government's idea to mortgage all paddy sounds good on the surface. But it will backfire in a matter of months.

"Most farmers do not have any farmland of their own and rent land for farming.

"And chances are that when the next season comes, land owners will take their land back and hire farmers to work on their farms," he said.

Mr Wichean, also a member of the Central Committee for Farmers Association, has recommended a guaranteed quota of 50 tonnes per farmer, an equivalent of 750,000 baht per tonne of paddy rice with a moisture of no more than 5%.

The Pheu Thai-led government offers 15,000 baht per tonne of paddy rice with moisture of no more than 5%.
Under the People Power Party-led administration, a farmer was guaranteed a mortgage quota of 40 tonnes.

"Without a ceiling, the land owners will be encouraged to invest in rice growing themselves," he said.

Mr Wichean also echoed concerns by Somsak Prisanananthakul, adviser to the agriculture minister, about delays in preparing for the mortgage scheme.

Mr Somsak had earlier lashed out at the Department of Agriculture Extension for its slowness. About 3.14 million farming households have registered with the paddy rice mortgage scheme.

The scheme requires that familiarisation be held within 15 days after the registration in each tambon.

The agency so far issued certificates to 35,000 farmers and held familiarisation forums for 600,000 farmers.

Mr Wichean said state authorities should speed up their work as the scheme is set to start next Friday.

Mr Wichean said several farmers are hoping to pick up "double compensation" from the government's flood relief measures,

They want compensation of 2,222 baht a rai of damaged crops and an amount of 1,437 baht per tonne of prematurely harvested crop, he said.

He said the farmers invested about 4,000-5,000 baht per rai, so an amount of 2,222 baht is not enough to cover the damage.

"But I'm trying to explain it's improbable to get double payment. The compensation is for partial damage, not whole," he said.

Meanwhile, a group of farmers from Phitsanulok's Bang Rakam district are crying foul over the government's decision to disqualify those collecting flood compensation from the paddy mortgage scheme.

"The government excludes the flood-stricken farmers from the scheme. So what should we do with the rice after the harvest?" said Ramphueng Jitramphueng.

Source: Bangkok Post