Adjustments in
Thailand's crop
insurance
to placate
rural farming population
By Jon
Fernquest 
Several
adjustments have been made in Thailand's crop
insurance scheme to
raise the incomes of rice farmers in the face falling prices.
crop
insurance -
insurance protecting farmers against the loss of their crops due to
natural disasters, such as drought and floods, or the loss of revenue
due to declines in the prices of agricultural commodities (See Wikipedia) การประกันผลผลิตทางการเกษตร
insurance - a system of protection against loss, a person pays money every month (premiums) for a guarantee that the company will pay them money if they or their property is damaged or lost (See Wikipedia) การประกันภัย
placate - to stop anger by giving people what they want (whether they really deserve it or not, just to stop anger), satisfy, pacify ทำให้สงบลง, พูดหรือทำให้คลายความโกรธ
adjustment - small change, modification, alteration การปรับเปลี่ยน
scheme - plan for achieving goals รายการ, แผนการ
insurance - a system of protection against loss, a person pays money every month (premiums) for a guarantee that the company will pay them money if they or their property is damaged or lost (See Wikipedia) การประกันภัย
placate - to stop anger by giving people what they want (whether they really deserve it or not, just to stop anger), satisfy, pacify ทำให้สงบลง, พูดหรือทำให้คลายความโกรธ
adjustment - small change, modification, alteration การปรับเปลี่ยน
scheme - plan for achieving goals รายการ, แผนการ
Marketing
AGRICULTURE
Rice benchmark to rise with market
24/04/2010Phusadee Arunmas
The government has pledged to increase benchmark prices for rice under its insurance programme so that they are closer to prevailing market rates in order to raise farmers' incomes and shore up local paddy prices.
The new benchmark prices would be based on the average market prices of rice sold in different provinces, said Yanyong Phuangrach, the permanent secretary for the Commerce Ministry.
benchmark
- a standard that other things can be compared to and measured by
pledged - seriously promised to do something สาบาน
insurance - when someone else takes a risk for you to protect you from danger, usually for a payment การประกัน (การประกันความเสี่ยง ประกันราคา)
prevailing - currently existing
market rates - the price as determined by demand meeting supply in the market
local - in or related to the area that you live, or to the particular area that you are talking about ท้องถิ่น
paddy - rice after it has been harvested from the field ข้าวเปลือก
permanent - happening or existing for a long time or for all time in the future ถาวร
pledged - seriously promised to do something สาบาน
insurance - when someone else takes a risk for you to protect you from danger, usually for a payment การประกัน (การประกันความเสี่ยง ประกันราคา)
prevailing - currently existing
market rates - the price as determined by demand meeting supply in the market
local - in or related to the area that you live, or to the particular area that you are talking about ท้องถิ่น
paddy - rice after it has been harvested from the field ข้าวเปลือก
permanent - happening or existing for a long time or for all time in the future ถาวร
Rice prices, particularly for paddy, vary in each province depending largely on moisture content, transport costs and the prices of milled rice.
Farmers currently earn 6,500 to 7,200 baht per tonne for paddy with 15% moisture content.
Authorities have to pay compensation of 2,800 baht a tonne to farmers, as the benchmark is below the insured price of 10,000 baht.
vary
- change
moisture content - the amount or percentage of water in rice
milled rice - rice that has been processed in a factory and made ready for sale for consumers to buy in a store
transport - to move people or things from one place to another ขนส่ง
compensation - money that someone receives because something bad has happened to them เงินชดเชย
moisture content - the amount or percentage of water in rice
milled rice - rice that has been processed in a factory and made ready for sale for consumers to buy in a store
transport - to move people or things from one place to another ขนส่ง
compensation - money that someone receives because something bad has happened to them เงินชดเชย
As another option, Mr Yanyong said the ministry would propose to set new benchmark prices using a calculation based on average prices of rice in the past three years, current market prices and futures prices in the three months ahead from the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (Afet). Under this method, the current benchmark would be 8,918 baht per tonne.
The National Rice Policy Committee is scheduled to consider the proposals on Monday.
option
- a choice; something that you can choose in a particular situation
ทางเลือก
ministry - a government department dealing with an area of activity กระทรวง
current - a strong movement of water in one direction, in this case, meaning a very difficult or dangerous situation กระแส
current - of the present time ปัจจุบัน
futures - a contract to buy something in the future, a contract that is traded on a public exchange, so the price reflects current expectations about the value of the underlying asset (See Economist Glossary on derivatives) การซื้อขายล่วงหน้า
Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (AFET) - Thailand's futures exchange for agricultural commodities (See Wikipedia and website)
a futures contract - a standardized contract, traded on a futures exchange, to exchange something (rice, oil, stocks) at a price and date in the future (See Wikipedia)
scheduled - planned to happen at a particular time or day ตามตารางเวลา
proposal - act of making a formal plan or suggestion for action ข้อเสนอ
accept a proposal - decide not to do the suggested action
reject a proposal - decide to do the suggested action
consider - to think avout something carefully before making a decision or forming an opinion พิจารณา
consider proposal - when decisionmakers decide to accept or reject a proposal
ministry - a government department dealing with an area of activity กระทรวง
current - a strong movement of water in one direction, in this case, meaning a very difficult or dangerous situation กระแส
current - of the present time ปัจจุบัน
futures - a contract to buy something in the future, a contract that is traded on a public exchange, so the price reflects current expectations about the value of the underlying asset (See Economist Glossary on derivatives) การซื้อขายล่วงหน้า
Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (AFET) - Thailand's futures exchange for agricultural commodities (See Wikipedia and website)
a futures contract - a standardized contract, traded on a futures exchange, to exchange something (rice, oil, stocks) at a price and date in the future (See Wikipedia)
scheduled - planned to happen at a particular time or day ตามตารางเวลา
proposal - act of making a formal plan or suggestion for action ข้อเสนอ
accept a proposal - decide not to do the suggested action
reject a proposal - decide to do the suggested action
consider - to think avout something carefully before making a decision or forming an opinion พิจารณา
consider proposal - when decisionmakers decide to accept or reject a proposal
Rice farmers are now pressing their calls for immediate help from the government, as domestic prices have fallen significantly on higher output, while foreign importers are delaying purchases on expectations prices will fall further.
Local paddy with 20% moisture is now quoted in the market at only 5,000 to 5,500 baht per tonne, with 15% moisture paddy at 7,000 baht. Before the Songkran festival, 20% moisture paddy was quoted at 5,800 to 6,300 baht, and 15% moisture at 8,000.
The price of local milled rice has also fallen from 19,000 baht a tonne in December to 11,800 baht now
Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, agreed that the benchmark prices needed to be raised, especially those based on the market prices, saying the new calculation would better reflect real market prices.
Thai rice prices, the benchmark for Asia, have slumped by 5.5% from two weeks ago on lower demand, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association.
The association on Wednesday set the price of 100% grade-B white rice at $482 a tonne, down from $510 on April 7. The price of 25% broken rice was set at $394 a tonne, compared with $421 a tonne two weeks earlier.
pressing
- very urgent and important ที่เร่งด่วน
domestic - within the country ในประเทศ
significantly - in an important way อย่างสำคัญ
delay - do something later than planned or expected, postpone ทำให้ล่าช้า, ทำให้ช้า, ทำให้หยุดยั้ง, ทำให้เสียเวลา, เลื่อ
expectations - การคาดคะเน
reflect - to show สะท้อน แสดงถึง
demand - the need and desire to buy goods and services by households and businesses
domestic - within the country ในประเทศ
significantly - in an important way อย่างสำคัญ
delay - do something later than planned or expected, postpone ทำให้ล่าช้า, ทำให้ช้า, ทำให้หยุดยั้ง, ทำให้เสียเวลา, เลื่อ
expectations - การคาดคะเน
reflect - to show สะท้อน แสดงถึง
demand - the need and desire to buy goods and services by households and businesses
(Source: Bangkok Post, AGRICULTURE, Rice benchmark to rise with market , 24/04/2010, Phusadee Arunmas, link)
