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Rubber Farmer Self-Immolates As Crop Price Plunges
29 August 2014

NAKHON SI THAMMARAT — A rubber farmer in Nakhon Si Thammarat province committed suicide yesterday amid the plunging price of raw rubber, a staple crop for many farmers is southern Thailand.

Pithakchai Kongthongkam, 31, doused his body with petrol and lit himself on fire at his home in Thoong Song district yesterday, police say.

Mr. Pithakchai's widow, Sujitra Srisawang, told police that her husband was distressed by the recent drop in the rubber prices, which threatened his livelihood as a rubber farmer.

"The price for rubber used to be at 70-80 baht per kilogram. Our family had an earning of 500-600 baht per day, enough to get by,” Ms. Sujitra said. “But in these days the rubber price dropped to only 40 baht per kilogram, which means one third of our earnings disappeared.”

Thailand is the world’s largest producer and exporter, but falling global demand has caused rubber prices to drop 24 percent this year.

Ms. Sujitra added that her husband was forced to borrow money from neighbours and employers to take care of the family. "It's likely that my husband was so stressed he decided to kill himself," Ms. Sujitra said.

However, officers at Kapang Police Station said Mr. Pithakchai was recently arrested by police and charged with drug abuse, which may have played a role in his suicide.

While the motive behind Mr. Pithakchai's suicide remains unclear, the drop in rubber prices has caused a genuine crisis for rubber farmers in southern Thailand, whose livelihoods depend on the crop.
I think the big problem with a lot of Thai's is that there is no "tomorrow" they just spend their money as it comes in the good times with out it entering their heads that they should put some to one side for a "rainy day" ,when as sure as night follows day the so called good times do not last forever , this in farming has always been the nature of the beast due to weather and of course world wide prices which cannot be controlled by just one Country (Thailand) and of course in many cases when a farang marries a Thai lady her family expect him to bankroll them ,seen it here a few times were the farangs house is like the local YMCA for his wifes family and the farang and his wifes privacy are intruded on day and night ,I have been informed a number of times that this is the "Thai way" fortunately Jan realizes that its not "my way" ,I view life here like a game of cards with me holding all the aces ,so in this I simply refuse to go into any business venture ,be it farming or whatever ,especially when the so called "business" proposition is put forward by some one who ain't got a pot to piss in