A majority of the 1,228 farmers surveyed nationwide agreed the rice pledging scheme had improved their lifestyle and threatened a mass protest if the programme were cancelled, the Economic and Business Forecasting Centre of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce said on Wednesday.
The polled farmers gave an average 3.53 grade out of five to the rice programme, agreeing it had helped increase household incomes by 50,000 baht on average each harvesting season.
Forecasting centre director Thanavath Phonvichai said the percentage of rice farmers owning their own cars stood at 70.5% before joining the rice scheme, but the figure was up to 77.8% two years later.
The percentage of rice farmers who owned their own homes rose from 76.4% to 80.5%, and those who own motorcycles increased from 67.2% to 78.8%, he said.
The survey also found that if the government scraps the scheme and allows rice prices to free float in line with market mechanism, 40.9% of respondents would take to the streets in a protest rally.
However, 32.5% of them said if the rice scheme was cancelled then the government must come up with alternative measures to reduce rice production costs, particularly fertiliser and pesticides.
Mr Thanavath said most rice exporters wanted the rice scheme scrapped and a rice guarantee programme implemented instead, to keep the price of Thai rice in line with the global market and strengthen rice export competitiveness.
They said it would be better for the government to subsidise the production costs of farmers.
Rice exporters said if the rice scheme is maintained, it would continue to have a negative impact, both in terms of rice quality and rice trading.