January 15, 2010

Thai shrimp farmers demand income guarantee programme

Shrimp farmers in southern provinces have called on the Thai government to replace the price-pledging programme with an income guarantee scheme.

Chairman of the Shrimp Farmers Association in eight southern provinces, Kanchit Hemarak, called on the government to provide an income guarantee programme for shrimp farmers to replace the price-pledging scheme the same way it did for other agricultural products.

Under the government's income guarantee project, the government has to assess the income and produce yield for farmers based on a reference price of the produce and compensate the farmers for any shortfall in earnings once they sell their produce on the market.

The shrimp farmers' network proposed a maximum income guarantee quota per farmer at 20 tonnes per year and compensation for a gap between the market price and estimated income at a maximum of THB20 (US$0.60) per kilogramme.

Kanchit said the different treatment by the government has prompted shrimp farmers to stage protests. A meeting between the Internal Trade Department and related agencies was held to discuss the issue.