Farmers are proposing a limit on the volume of second-crop rice that farmers can pledge with the government, believing a cap would be an effective safeguard against cheating.

Any farm household could be allowed to mortgage paddy worth no more than 500,000 baht, about 50 rai's worth, said Prasith Boonchoey, president of the Thai Farmers Association.

He said the proposal could prevent attempts by some farmers to use low-priced paddy from other sources to pledge and then pocket the difference in prices.

The Rice Policy Committee is scheduled to review the proposal and the mechanics of second-crop rice pledging next week, said Vatchari Vimooktayon, director-general of the Commerce Ministry's Internal Trade Department.

Initially, the process would be the same as that applied for the current rice pledging programme that will end this month, she said after a meeting with millers, traders and exporters yesterday.

The second crop is forecast to produce 9 million tonnes of paddy and the pledging programme is likely to last until June 30.

Ms Vatchari expects the government will pay farmers the same prices as it has been paying for main-crop paddy, or 15,000 baht a tonne.

To date, farmers have pledged about 6 million tonnes of paddy and Mrs Vatchari expects another 500,000 tonnes to enter the programme.

But Bunjong Tangjitwattanakul, vice-president of the Thai Rice Millers Association, has proposed the government pay 14,000 baht for 5% white rice and 15,000 baht for high-quality rice.

He also encouraged a change of pledging conditions related to the delivery of broken rice to the government, which has distorted prices in the market. Broken rice has risen to 15 baht a kilogramme from 12 baht, so users may turn to buy higher-quality rice, he said.

Source: Bangkok post