Thai corn farmers end demonstration

 

 

Farmers from Mae Tha district closed the main road linking Lampang and Phrae's Den Chai district, bringing traffic to a halt.

 

The protesters claimed they were excluded from the corn mortgage scheme, insisting they need immediate help to stop falling prices of 7,000-tonne corn grown by farmers in the province.

 

The farmers want a guarantee price of at least seven baht a kilogramme.

 

Earlier, talks between farmers and provincial officials collapsed.

 

Lampang deputy governor Samart Loifa said the government could only guarantee a price for 3,097 tonnes of corn for the province although it had offered to support the price at 8.5 baht a kilogramme.

 

Samart said the rest needs to be sold under the market mechanism. The farmers however said corn sold on the open market would not fetch a high price.

 

About 100 farmers transferred their protest to the road after leaving the provincial hall.

 

In Chiang Rai, farmers say that imports of cheaper corn from Laos through Chiang Khong district have put extra pressure on domestic corn prices.

 

Customs officials said about Thailand had recently imported 120 tonnes of corn.

 

Many farmers did not join the mortgage scheme because the corn pick-up location was too far from their land.

 

Farmers in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima have also staged rallies.

 

Many farmers said had sold corn used as animal feed to private traders as they could not wait for the state programme, which also put a quota on their mortgaged corn.

 

Only 2,643 of a total 37,823 corn farmers in 17 districts have mortgaged corn with the government, said Nakhon Ratchasima internal trade official Marasri Tipayanont.