Rubber farmers threatened Tuesday to protest in Bangkok after the government rejected their demands for an increase of rubber prices to 80 baht a kilogramme.
Sunthorn Rakrong, coordinator of the Alliance for the Revival of Rubber Farmers, insisted the demand was appropriate.
The government must come up with a new price or find satisfactory solutions for the rubber farmers' problem by the end of this year, he said.
Mr Sunthorn read a statement in front of Government House. The farmers he represented also handed a petition to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
If the government fails to solve the problem, rubber farmers nationwide would demand to meet the premier at Government House. Farmers had struggled for months with lower prices and were now running out of options.
The farmers would travel on foot to the capital early next year, regardless of martial law which limits political gatherings of more than five poeple, said Thotsaphon Kwanrot, chairman of the network of rubber and palm oil farmers in 16 southern provinces.
The rubber farmers' rally would not be a political one but a bread-and-butter issue, he said.
Gen Prayut refused to comment when asked by reporters what the government would do if the rally took place against the military's wish to maintain a peaceful atmosphere.
It is up to the rubber planters if they want to organise a rally, Gen Prayut said, but the activity would not put him under pressure.
The government has not turned a deaf ear to the farmers' troubles, but it has to plan its budget spending carefully, he said.
The government earlier agreed to provide 1,000-baht subsidies for every rai of rubber trees grown by farmers.
The assistance is part of the 58-billion-baht campaign designed to relieve their hardship.
"Please understand the government," Gen Prayut said. "It's all taxpayers' money, which is needed for other purposes too."
The farmers' representatives insisted Tuesday that rubber prices must be fixed at 80 baht/kg, warning that the current market prices were so low that farmers had to sell three kilogrammes of rubber just to get 100 baht.
If the increase could not be attained, the government should cover the difference between the demanded price and the actual selling price, Mr Sunthorn suggested.
The farmers were not certain whether the 1,000-baht subsidy offered by the government would cover all of them, he said.
The government should instead issue bonds to raise funds for rubber farmers as a more effective way to help them.
Gen Prayut said the bond proposal needed to be discussed further, because at the moment, he had no idea where the government could find the money that would be needed to help the farmers.
The government could not use its central budget freely because the money is needed for urgent causes, especially to cope in case of a natural disaster, he said.
Authorities hope they could first increase the rubber price to 60 baht/kg, said Deputy Agriculture Minister Amnuay Patise.
The price of smoked rubber has already climbed to 52 baht/kg.
"But the increase to 80 baht/kg is impossible," he said.
Gen Prayut said the biggest buyer of rubber sheet was not the government but farmer cooperatives and private rubber processing companies.
Officials had urged them to buy the product at 60 baht/kg, but the decision was up to them, he said.