The government's promise to start paying indebted farmers under the rice pledging scheme got off to a shaky start yesterday with many branches of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives reporting the government has yet to transfer the needed funds.
A group of rice growers, mainly from Central Plains provinces, holds placards to show their support for the government and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives at the bank’s headquarters in Chatuchak district yesterday as ways are sought to pay farmers under the troubled rice-pledging scheme. Apichit Jinakul
Farmers in several provinces were dismayed to find the government had yet to transfer money to the BACC yesterday, despite earlier promises they could start redeeming their pledging slips when their local branches opened.
The farmers left home early in the morning to wait their turn to receive money at the BACC after caretaker Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan assured farmers on Sunday the BACC yesterday would start paying them an average of four billion baht a day.
Ang Thong Agriculture Council chairman Songpol Poonsawat said he contacted an officer at the BACC Ang Thong branch and he was dismayed to find the caretaker government had not injected money into the BACC to pay 600 million baht owed to about 2,500 Ang Thong farmers.
Mr Songpol said he will hold talks with the BACC's Ang Thong branch today to find out when the caretaker government will transfer the money under the rice pledging scheme to the bank.
Unpaid farmers in tambons Ang Thong, Chedihak,Koh Plabpla, and Khao Raeng of Ratchaburi's Muang district yesterday queued up for their turn to receive money at the BACC in Muang district.
However, they too returned home empty-handed after a few hours of waiting in line, having learned the caretaker government had not yet transferred money to the bank.
Jaem Panrak, a farmer from tambon Koh Plabpla, said she was disappointed the BACC did not have any money to pay her.
Earlier, the caretaker government assured unpaid farmers they could travel to the bank to submit their bai prathuan - a pledging ticket used as evidence to receive money from the rice pledging scheme.
''I sold the rice a few months ago and am still waiting for 300,000 baht in pledged rice payments from the government,'' Mrs Jaem said.
Mrs Jaem said she asked the bank to receive her bai prathuan as a guarantee and give her a 30,000-baht loan but a bank officer refused to proceed with her request.
In Phitsanulok, many unpaid farmers in Muang district travelled to the BACC in Muang district early in the morning to check whether they were entitled to receive the money pledged by Mr Niwatthamrong.
But a bank officer told them the bank in Muang district has only nine million baht to pay the farmers this week and the money is not part of the new budget pledged by Mr Niwatthamrong. Many had to return home empty-handed.
Unpaid farmers in Muang district of Uthai Thani were also dismayed to hear the BACC in Muang district has not yet received any new money from the caretaker government to pay them.
There is only 120 million baht, transferred last week, to pay them. They said they hoped to get the money to pay off farming debts as they were paying an exorbitant rate of interest. They also said they intend to grow a new crop but they do not have money to invest. They demanded the caretaker government seek money to pay them as quickly as possible. The government has yet to pay 2.8 billion baht owed to farmers in Uthai Thani.
In Khon Kaen, about 300 farmers converged on the BACC in Muang district to demand the government start paying them money they are owed.
In Ayutthaya, Srinual Chuenchob, 55, a farmer from tambon Ban Mai of Muang district said he also returned home empty-handed, but he believed the bank would pay him in the next few days.