Thai farmer demands met immediately by government
farmers go home
By Jon Fernquest |
The front page of today's Bangkok Post reports on the government's rapid response to the demands of protesting farmers (See photo on right of protesting farmers on their way into Bangkok in their tractors).
First, a deadline of three months was set for giving unused state land to poor farmers who are currently renting land.
The whole process of reclaiming this unused state land might become a little complicated because the government first has to "set criteria for those who will retain the rights to use the land."
Second, the government has increased the budget for purchasing second-crop rice from 24 to 35 million baht and targeted purchases from 2 to 3.5 million tonnes of rice.
Third, government funds have also been budgeted for irrigation and crop productivity projects.
Satisfied with the government response to their demands, the farmers promptly agreed to disperse and return to their provinces.
Here is the article in full:
A million rai for farmers
Govt sets aside B35bn to buy second-crop riceANUCHA CHAROENPO & CHATRUDEE THEPARAT
Wednesday June 11, 2008
The Treasury Department has been given three months to take back one-million rai of unused land from other government agencies for allocation to poor farmers.
This is one of several measures approved by the cabinet yesterday to help struggling rural communities.
Others include a budget of 28-35 billion baht for the rice mortgage programme and 545 million baht for irrigation water management projects.
The State Property Bureau, part of the Treasury Department, owns 12.5 million rai of land nationwide, most of it now under the care of the Defence, Agriculture and Cooperatives, Education and Finance ministries. Less than 2% is used for housing, farming and commercial purposes.
The land rented by the four ministries is the target of yesterday's recall order. It will be distributed to poor farmers who now have to lease land.
"We will not take back the land people are using. We only want back vacant land which state agencies never use," deputy government spokesman Suparat Nakboonnam said.
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej ordered the department to hold talks with the four ministries about returning the land so that the plan can be realised within three months, she said.
The prime minister wanted to increase the rent on the Treasury land, now 20 baht per rai, according to Amnuay Preemonwong, the department's deputy director-general.
Mr Amnuay expected to hold talks with the four ministries next month to work out details of the land recall and set criteria for those who will retain the rights to use the land.
The cabinet also agreed to allocate between 28 and 35 billion baht for the second-crop rice mortgage scheme, to kick-start this Sunday.
The scheme will be run by the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).
Bank president Teerapong Tungteerasunun has estimated 35 billion baht will be needed if all 3.5 million tonnes of second-crop rice paddy is to be sold to the government.
Earlier, the bank under the Finance Ministry planned to spend only 24 billion baht to purchase up to two million tonnes of paddy for the June-August crop.
Under the programme, the bank will accept paddy from farmers and work with participating rice mills to mill the grain, which will be sold locally and abroad. The first targeted areas are Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Phichit, Suphan Buri, Ang Thong and Sing Buri.
Other approved measures are a green light for the Cooperative Promotion Department to borrow one million baht from the farmers assistance fund, for use in helping farmers, and another 400 million baht from the same fund for the Rice Department to finance a project to increase the crop productivity.
Government spokesman Pol Lt-Gen Wichienchote Sukchoterat said the cabinet also budgeted about 545 billion baht for water management projects over 12 years to serve agricultural areas.
The projects include the planned diversion from the Mae Yuam river to the Bhumibhol dam reservoir in Tak and the nationwide dredging of natural water sources.
The government is under pressure by farmers, mainly from Central provinces, to shore up the price of their paddy. Yesterday more indebted farmers from northeastern provinces joined the estimated 1,000 protesting farmers already gathered under the Rama VIII bridge near the Bank of Thailand head office. They are demanding help to ease their debts and voicing their disappointment at the ineffectiveness of the Farmer Rehabilitation and Development Fund.
Charin Duangdara, adviser to the Indebted Farmers Network, said the farmers agreed last night to disperse and return to their home provinces.
Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart yesterday pledged to put their demands to a meeting of the Farmer Rehabilitation and Development Fund this Friday.
Vocabulary:
tractors - a vehicle used to pull farm equipment (See Wikipedia)
a deadline - project must be completed before this time
reclaiming - take back (what is your's)
complicated - has so many parts so difficult to understand and deal with, not simple
criteria - the rules used to make a decision with
set criteria - create the rules to make a decision
retain - keep, continue to have something
target - the goal that you wish to reach or achieve (See glossary)
targeted purchases - your goal is to buy this amount
budget - the money that you plan to spend on this next year
funds - money available for spending
irrigation - supplying water to land to help crops grow
productivity - the amount produced per unit of resources used, for example land or worker resources (See The Economist glossary)
crop productivity - crops produced per unit of land used
satisfied - happy because you got what you wanted or needed
promptly - quickly, immediately, without delay
disperse - when a crowd or large group of people splits up, all going in different directions
allocation - portion of the total amount given to a person or for a special purpose (See glossary)
struggling - try hard to succeed, when it is difficult to succeed
rural communities - villages of farmers
rice mortgage programme - a government programme of intervention and price support in rice markets, farmers give their rice to government in exchange for a price when prices are temporarily low, they either pay the money and take back the rice, or they keep the money and the government is left with the responsibility of selling the rice at a reasonable price
recall - requesting people to return something (usually a defective product)
a recall order - an official request to return something
lease land - rent land for a period of time
vacant land - land with no one on the land, no one occupying the land
hold talks with - discuss some issue with
plan can be realised within three months - only three months to complete everything in the plan
kick-start - start quickly (like kicking the starter on a motorcycle with your foot)
Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) - Thai government bank specialising in microfinance and banking for farming households (See website, see FAO profile)
are a green light for - permission for some project to begin
diversion - changing the direction of flow
dredging - remove mud from the bottom of a river, harbour, or canal
under pressure - people are forcing them to act
shore up - strengthen and support something weak and failing
shore up the price of their paddy - prevent the price of rice from falling
ineffectiveness - has no effect, does not solve the problem
pledged - promised
