Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra insists farmers will receive payments for their pledged rice, saying her government is duty-bound to pay the money owed to them.
Ms Yingluck, also caretaker defence minister, said the government has not ignored the plight of unpaid rice farmers, but it faced legal limitations as a caretaker government.
She has asked the Commerce and Finance ministries and other relevant agencies to accelerate their work and she was hopeful the agencies could find a way to ease the farmers' plight.
She admitted the delayed rice-payment issue was being politicised to attack the government. This would affect problem-solving procedures and in turn farmers would be negatively affected, she said.
Commenting on the Democrat Party's claim the payments for pledged rice have been delayed for more than six months, Ms Yingluck said caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan had already explained the matter.
Mr Niwatthamrong was speeding up procedures to pay the farmers taking part in the pledging scheme, she said.
Ms Yingluck declined to make clear when the government would make the payments, saying the administration would let relevant agencies carry out their work first, as each area worked to different payment schedules.
Rice farmers protest outside the Commerce Ministry on Thursday, Feb 6, 2014. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)
The payments would be made on a first-come, first-served basis, she said.
"As farmers have pledging certificates and their pledged rice is being stockpiled in state warehouses, every government, including mine, is duty-bound to pay them. Unpaid rice farmers will certainly receive money," she said.
Caretaker PM's Office Minister and Deputy Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Minister Varathep Rattanakorn lashed out at the Democrat Party for politicising rice pledging.
Mr Varathep, also caretaker deputy agriculture and agricultural cooperatives minister, accused the Democrat Party of distorting information about the scheme.
Disgruntled farmers across the country have stepped up pressure on the government to pay them for their pledged paddy.
In Nakhon Phanom, a farmers group has threatened to close the third Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge unless rice farmers receive payments in seven days.
Pakdisayam Prom-in, chairman of the Nakhon Phanom agricultural council, on Friday led 20 farmers' representatives from 12 districts to gather near the friendship bridge to issue their demands for the government to accelerate payments.
In Suphan Buri, more than 500 farmers from 10 districts gathered in front of the provincial hall to air their grievances over the delayed payments of more than 2 billion baht to some 20,000 rice farmers.
The group submitted a letter to deputy provincial governor Somchai Lertpongpakorn to forward to the government, asking it to speed up the payments.
Farmers in several provinces gathered in front of the Commerce Ministry for the second day on Friday to demand payments for their pledged rice.
Rawee Rungruang, a farmer leader, said his group wanted the government to resign if it failed to find money to pay the money it has owed them for months.
He welcomed anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban's move to raise cash donations to help farmers.