Samak: Thais should eat less

[buksida]

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has asked Thais to consume less rice for the benefit of Thai farmers at a time of rising rice prices.

Speaking during his weekly programme aired on television and broadcast on the radio, the premier described the rice situation as something that will go according to supply and demand, but said farmers could sell their rice stocks at more than double the usual price to importers and encouraged Thais to make a sacrifice by eating less rice.

According to Mr Samak, the government is currently negotiating with neighbouring countries to import cheap fertiliser to help cut the cost of production for paddy farmers. He also vowed to crack down on those responsible for producing counterfeit fertiliser.

Source: Bangkok Post

Thought: I wonder how much less that overweight dinosaur is going to consume.
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[STEVE G]

[lomuamart]

I saw the news article earlier this morning and it just made no sense to me.
The farmers hold back a proportion of their harvests for themselves - at least my ex's did in Buriram. That's possibly a year's rice for them all.
Vietnam and India have been curtailing exports, so Thailand as the biggest rice exporter in the world, could certainly benefit from rising prices.
But who gets the benefit? Maybe the farmers get some, but I'd reckon the middlemen get most. The government warned against hoarding a little while ago, but I've seen nothing about it yet.
I just can't see the price increases being passed on to the farmers.
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"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered". George Best.

[sandman67]

I read a different article that covered the same content, but said that Samak is, as usual, telling porkies....(I prefer the BBC analysis of the business rather than SadSak's).......as most farmers sell their surplus shortly after harvesting so would miss out on any price benefits.

The only "farmer" money being made is by farmers who crop more than once (so thats most of Issan and the NE out) and who have facilities for storing their surplus crop for months...which is not how they do things.

The men making the money are brokers and secondary traders....not farmers. Course that doesn't sound as good, which is why SadSak once again lied his big fat head off.

I asked Mrs S and she said no-one in their village sells rice - they use all their crops for themselves or sell small amounts to fund stuff like a new water well etc. I remember one of the village head blokes also explaining that as the village didn't vote PPP en masse they get stuff all off the local authorities in the way of help. Last year they had to buy a generator make up for the crappy electricity supply. This year they are looking at fixing their road.

I have been there now several times, and i see NO "wealthy" farmers...just hard working people who get by.

Agree with Lomu tho....maybe toad face should try stuffing less into that stachel gob of his as an example...

As Buddy said..."That'll be the day..."
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