The brief protests by rice farmers in Phichit and Kamphaeng Phet provinces on Tuesday against delayed payments for the crops they "pledged" under the rice-pledging scheme are just a taste of sterner action to come if the government misses its latest payment deadline on Wednesday.
The government should thank the rice farmers for being extraordinarily patient and peaceful despite the fact that many of them have had to resort to the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) or, in worse cases, loan sharks who charge as much as 20% interest per month to keep them going.
Some have been waiting up to five months for the delayed pledge payments.
After several broken promises, including the most recent one which said the farmers would definitely get paid before the New Year, the farmers' patience is at breaking point. The government has only itself to blame if the farmers' patience again runs out and they start to block roads in upcountry provinces as earlier threatened.
It appears the government keeps delaying payments to the farmers because it is broke. It is also unable to secure new financing without the risk of breaking the law.
For instance, the plan to secure a 130-billion-baht loan for the BAAC to pay the farmers, which is a part of a 270-billion-baht fund needed to support the rice-pledging scheme for the 2013-14 main and second crops, may not be possible because the amount will exceed the 410-billion-baht limit permissible.
And there is a contentious legal issue about the cabinet's authority to endorse the 270-billion-baht fund for the pledging scheme.
Desperate for new funding to keep the scheme alive, the government is reported to be squeezing the BAAC for an additional 55 billion baht from the bank's deposits to pay the farmers.
The bank's management may not be able to resist the government's demand. The bank's staff union, however, has threatened to protest.
Taking depositors' money to help pay the farmers, even for a short period of time, to stave off possible mass protests by angry farmers has no legal basis whatsoever.
Worse, such a desperate move may provoke a run by depositors which will plunge the BAAC into deeper financial trouble.
Promises by the Commerce Ministry of new rice deals which will bring in fresh revenue to return to the BAAC are, at best, empty talk.
It is a pity the decision-makers at the ministry still believe that, for the sake of their own credibility, they cannot afford to start telling the truth about the rice-pledging scheme.
Only two years after its implementation, the rice-pledging scheme has proven to be a failure. It has failed to help poor farmers who cannot produce enough rice for sale. It has failed to reduce farmers' debt problems, to increase productivity, or raise the prices of Thai rice in the world market as promised. On top of that, it is riddled with corruption.
The only visible gain or merit of the scheme is that the Pheu Thai Party has won votes from the farmers _ at an unimaginable cost to the country.
Yet the government remains unwaveringly blind, insensible and arrogant as it persists with a populist yet shallow scheme hoping that it will, once again, win much-needed farmers' votes for another term in office.