Farmers block Mae Sai highway

About 1,000 farmers from Mae Chan, Mae Sai and Chiang Saen districts on Tuesday morning used pickup trucks to block the Chiang Rai-Mae Sai highway in Mae Chan district demanding the government extend the rice-pledging scheme, which ended on May 31.

The protesting farmers complained that about 50,000 rai of the off-season rice fields had not yet to be harvested because  state officials had previously promised that the rice-pledging scheme would be continued until July.

They insisted that the main highway would remain  blocked until the government comes up with an acceptable solution to their problems.