Commerce minister under fire for suggesting rice farmers to grow bananas

Commerce Minister Pichai Naripthaphan has come under fire from opposition parties and critics for his recent suggestion that rice farmers should cultivate bananas for export to Japan, which would fetch higher prices than grain.


Pol Lt-Gen Piya Tavichai, spokesman for the opposition Palang Pracharath party, said today that Pichai’s suggestion reflects the minister’s lack of vision and understanding of the rice farmers’ problems.


Farmers are complaining that the price of the second-crop harvests has fallen to about 8,000 baht/tonne, from about 10,000 baht/tonne, which is lower than their production costs.


Piya said that the government’s program to help rice farmers, by giving each farming household 1,000 baht per 0.16 hectares, up to a maximum of 1.6 hectares, is insufficient to cover their production costs. He suggested that the subsidy should be increased to 20,000 baht to cover 3.2 hectares per household, as implemented by the Prayut administration.


He accused the commerce minister of confining himself to the air-conditioned comfort of his office and never actually experiencing the farmers’ way of life. Paddy fields, he said, are usually flooded, making them unsuitable for the cultivation of bananas, and it takes more than a year for banana plants to bear fruit.


“So, what will farmers eat while they are waiting for the banana plants to bear fruit?” he asked.


Piya said the government should develop high-yield rice species and use technology to increase productivity, so farmers can increase their output while reducing their production costs, so Thai rice will be more competitive on the global market.


Meanwhile, Thai Pakdee Party Chairman Warong Dechgitvigrom asked the commerce minister why farmers are selling their crops at lower prices this year, while the price of milled rice is steadily increasing on the domestic market.


“This mismatch shows that there is something wrong with the rice (production) mechanism,” said Warong, as he asked who is profiting from the price difference.

Commerce minister under fire for suggesting rice farmers to

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Originally Posted by misskit

“So, what will farmers eat while they are waiting for the banana plants to bear fruit?” he asked.

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Qu'ils mangeant de la brioche often attributed to Marie Antoinette and usually mistranslated as

LET THEM EAT CAKE , Brioche is actually a tasty bread.

The long term such smallholdings are too small to yield all bar subsistence living sufficient for their of their ancestors not a 4x4 a new IPhone for the kid and big TV.

In parts of Europe farmers are often paid subsidies set aside to not farm but rewild, restore forests, hedge clean waterways and protect the environment.
New income from added value organic produce , eco tourism and some of teh OTOP type scemes to create stable micro economies with real jobs off the farm.

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Originally Posted by misskit

“So, what will farmers eat while they are waiting for the banana plants to bear fruit?” he asked.

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The same as when they do bear fruit.


Bugs and shit.

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Originally Posted by misskit

Farmers are complaining that the price of the second-crop harvests has fallen to about 8,000 baht/tonne

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While in the supermarket, rice prices seem to keep rising. Easy to pay over B30 per kilo at retail now. That is B30,000 per tonne. As always, the fat cats are the middlemen rice traders.