Rice farmers have threatened mass protests against the government for its repeated broken promises to pay them for the crops which were “pledged” with the government dating back to as long as last October.
Mr Prasit Boonchoey, president of Thai Rice Farmers Association, said Tuesday that the association’s representatives who are farmers in various provinces have held discussions about the actions to be taken after the government has kept postponing the delayed payments originally from the end of last year to January 15, then January 25 and, lately, to January 31.
The government’s repeated procrastination of the payments shows that it is not sincere with the farmers and has kept lying all the time, said Mr Prasit, adding that farmers have been suffering badly because they need the money to make a living, to pay their debts, to pay rentals to the landlords or to pay the school fees of their children.
He indicated that the farmers had no choice but to “come out” to make their demand. He also dismissed the government’s claim that the delayed payments were caused by the protesters’ closure of the Finance Ministry, noting that the siege was over several weeks ago “and yet the government has no money to pay the farmers”.
Prasit went on saying that rice farmers these days are not stupid and are fully aware of the situation.
Farmers plan protests against the government for rice payments | Thai PBS English News