The junta has decided to scrap Pheu Thai’s vote-winning but corruption-plagued rice-pledging scheme.
National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) leader Prayuth Chan-ocha said rice subsidies would be off limits unless there is a scheme in which all of the benefits go directly to growers.
This also applies to the Abhisit Vejjvajiva administration’s rice price insurance scheme, which was scrapped by the Yingluck Shinawatra government, the NCPO leader said. Gen Prayuth stressed the need to seek alternative methods to promote sustainable agriculture development to support rice farmers.
The coup leader was speaking as he chaired a meeting on the 2015 budget at the Army Club on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road yesterday. The meeting was televised live for the sake of transparency.
“If you ask me today, there will definitely be no rice-pledging scheme or rice price guarantee. Don’t talk to me about it any more. We’ll discuss it later if it is proven to be transparent and that people will benefit 100%,” Gen Prayuth said.
He argued the state must educate farmers and support them to reduce production costs, saying growers should be encouraged to use organic fertilisers as a substitute for chemicals, to improve soil fertility.
Gen Prayuth also instructed relevant agencies to set up rice banks nationwide, from which farmers will be able to borrow rice seeds and fertiliser.
He meanwhile ordered the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry to find ways to improve the cooperatives system to boost the livelihoods of paddy farmers.
The rice-pledging scheme was the flagship populist policy that helped former prime minister Yingluck sweep to power in the 2011 general election, but the programme has been sharply criticised for mounting losses and alleged corruption.
The scheme paid farmers about 40% above market price for their paddy, resulting in losses estimated at 500 billion baht.
Opponents said the scheme was plagued with corruption. Unsold rice was claimed to be rotting in warehouses. Rice farmers were still owed about 90 billion baht for harvests pledged in 2013 when the government was ousted by the military in May.
The NCPO last month told the Finance Ministry to borrow from banks and guarantee bonds issued by the state-owned Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to pay off the debts owed to rice farmers.
Acting permanent secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, ML Panadda Diskul, yesterday chaired the first meeting of a subcommittee responsible for checking the quality and quantity of remaining pledged paddy in warehouses nationwide as ordered by the NCPO.
ML Panadda said more than 1,800 warehouses will be examined. Inspectors will make visits without prior notice once the Commerce Ministry provides data relating to pledged rice stocks and warehouses to the subcommittee this month.
The PM’s Office and the Commerce Ministry are responsible for inspecting rice stocks, with the support of the Royal Thai Police, the armed forces, the Interior Ministry and the National Anti-Corruption Commission, ML Panadda said.
He said the subcommittee has ordered provincial authorities to ensure rice stocks are not moved before inspections.
According to a survey by the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) carried out from Tuesday to Thursday, around half of people want to see some kind of rice scheme continued.
The pollster surveyed 1,464 people, 56% of whom said the NCPO should continue the rice-pledging scheme, but with the price of the grain adjusted to be in line with the global market.
Another 23% said the project should be scrapped, while 17% felt the old scheme should be continued.
Asked which rice policy the NCPO should implement, 42% suggested some kind of income guarantee, and about 35% pointed to a scheme similar to the Democrats’ rice price insurance programme.