After finishing her latest rice harvest, Sripai Kaeo-eam hurriedly cleared her fields and planted a new crop in late August — ignoring a Thai government advisory to restrict further sowing of the grain this year to conserve water.
"This crop is our hope," said the 58-year-old farmer in Thailand's central Chai Nat province, pointing to her green paddy seedlings only a few inches tall.
These pressures on the sector, reported in detail for the first time by Reuters, are squeezing debt-laden Thai farmers despite tens of billions of dollars in subsidies over the past decade. "The cultivated area is down because of lack of rainfall and irrigated water," said Somporn, a senior fellow at the state-affiliated Knowledge Network Institute of Thailand .
Danai Saengthabthim, 60, was among those at the hours-long meeting, where he sought to convince officials not to seize his land for failing to repay debts that have swelled over two generations. "All the farmers in our group have debts," said Sripai, who pays a rate of 6.875% on her loan. "We got the debt when we faced droughts, floods, and pests."levels. In 2021, 66.7% of all agricultural households were in debt, largely from farming-related activities, according to government data.Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said in his first policy statement before parliament last week that the government will seek to improve farm incomes.
That move kicked off a decade of handouts that stymied productivity in Thailand's rice sector, leaving average yields per rai lower than those of Bangladesh and Nepal, said Nipon.
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