Farmers rally for rice price guarantee or pledging at Bt11,000/tonne

Farmers from 13 provinces rallied at Parliament, demanding a rice price guarantee or pledging scheme at 11,000 baht per tonne to ease their financial burden.

A group of farmers from 13 central provinces rallied outside Parliament on Monday, demanding that the government either guarantee rice prices or reinstate the rice pledging scheme.

The protest was led by Thitiwat Kleebmalai, a leader of the Ayutthaya farmers' group, while a no-confidence debate was taking place inside Parliament.

Thitiwat stated that farmers were urging the government to address their grievances urgently, as many had fallen into heavy debt due to declining rice prices.

He explained that farmers in Ayutthaya and other central provinces were calling for a guaranteed rice price of 11,000 baht per tonne, with a quota of 50 tonnes per household. If the government could not ensure this price, he argued that it should purchase rice from farmers under a pledging scheme at the same rate and quota.

Additionally, Thitiwat urged the government to compensate Ayutthaya farmers with 300 baht per rai of paddy fields used to retain floodwaters during the rainy season when upstream floods reach the Ayutthaya basin. He insisted that this compensation should be provided for at least three months.

He also called for an exemption for Ayutthaya from the ban on hay burning, arguing that the province experiences annual flooding. As a result, farmers need to burn hay quickly after the harvest to prepare for the second rice crop before the seasonal floods arrive.

(2025/03/24-00:00)