The caretaker government should consider giving rice farmers another three-year debt moratorium, Wichian Puanglamjiag, chairman of the Thai farmers Association, said on Tuesday.
Mr Wichian said he is now discussing with co-leaders of rice grower groups nationwide a plan to submit an urgent letter to the caretaker government and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) requesting for the debt moratorium.
The government had granted a debt moratorium for farmers in 2011, when the great flood hit all regions of the country, and farmers must now start to make repayments, he said.
The rice growers’ leader said the extended debt moratorium should be offered because the farmers now have no money, because they have still not been paid for rice harvests pledged several months ago under the government’s rice scheme.
Many rice farmers were now facing water shortages for irrigation, which would damage crops and reduce harvest.
An extended debt moratorium is an alternative means to heal farmers' ills caused by the delayed rice payments, because the caretaker government may not be able to raise money to pay farmers money owed for their pledged crops, Mr Wichian said.
The dissolution of the House of Representatives severely limits the caretaker government's financial authority. It cannot impose a new financial obligation on the next government.