Thai farmers encouraged to grow more soybean plants

[webfact]

Farmers encouraged to grow more soybean plants

 

BANGKOK, 25 November 2016 (NNT) - The committee overseeing vegetable oil and oil crops is slated to ask the Cabinet to consider regulating prices of soybeans to encourage domestic farmers to grow soybean plants. 

The committee's recent meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Air Chief Marshal Prajin Junthon discussed the country's need to import certain oil crops to meet domestic demand. 

Deputy secretary-general of the Office of Agricultural Economics Jariya Suthichaiya said the crops would be imported from January next year to the end of 2019 under the terms set by World Trade Organization and ASEAN Free Trade Area. 

To reduce Thailand’s dependence on oil crop imports, the committee will ask the Cabinet to approve standard buying prices of soybeans per kilogram which will be based on manufacturing purposes. 

The minimum price for a kilogram of soybeans will be 15.50 baht. Teh price will increase by at least 2 baht if the beans are to be used for the production of vegetable oil, animal feed and human food. 

Jariya said new prices would attract more farmers to grow soybean plants, hoping to reduce imports of such crop.

 

-- nnt 2016-11-25

[longtom]

They never learn. 

[CLW]

I can see the next step already: "Thai Soybean no good, we need GMO varieties"....
Instead of just improving their crappy agricultural practice

[bark]

You cannot set a price for a commodity product.  

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

ask the Cabinet to consider regulating prices of soybeans to encourage domestic farmers to grow soybean plants. 

TRANSLATION:

Government subsidies for soybean crops.

[Dumbastheycome]

7 hours ago, CLW said:

I can see the next step already: "Thai Soybean no good, we need GMO varieties"....
Instead of just improving their crappy agricultural practice

And  where  are  non  GMO soybeanseed  available??????  Man Santa already   ferked that concept  over  about  10 years  ago!

[soalbundy]

6 hours ago, bark said:

You cannot set a price for a commodity product.  

tell that to the EU

[fruitman]

Why not grow peanuts on a large scale? They are very expensive in Thailand.

[CLW]

And  where  are  non  GMO soybeanseed  available??????  Man Santa already   ferked that concept  over  about  10 years  ago! [emoji20]

Actually my idea was just sarcasm.
I think the Thai varieties could do well.
But what you said, is not so unlikely.
From the point of Monsanto, they could say: Hey, you want to grow more and better Soybean? Why not try our nice GMO varieties...

[CLW]

Why not grow peanuts on a large scale? They are very expensive in Thailand.

Peanuts need sandy soil.
Also susceptible for too much soil moisture and soil living insect pests.

[bangon04]

" The committee overseeing vegetable oil and oil crops is slated to ask the Cabinet to consider regulating prices of soybeans to encourage domestic farmers to grow soybean plants.  "

 

so translated - nobody has actually done anything yet... they are "mulling". They haven't got anywhere near to "encouraging" yet as the headline was leading us to believe...

[blackcab]

15 hours ago, bark said:

You cannot set a price for a commodity product.  

 

They do it already for palm oil.

[soalbundy]

Yeah everybody grow soybeans and watch the price collapse come harvest time

[Brer Fox]

If nothing else this proposal will give the foundation members of the Great Rice Scam something to think about and work on for when the timing is right for the Great Soybean Scam.

[bark]

19 hours ago, soalbundy said:

tell that to the EU

EU it is a commodity product.

[GOLDBUGGY]

Seems every week they are coming out with something new. There was pineapples, then palm oil, then beans, potatoes, then corn, and now soybean. But I think my favorite one of all was a couple of weeks ago, when someone suggested you don't grow anything at all. As in that case you can't lose money. Perhaps that is the best advice of all.

 

Perhaps it is time to make changes, but the soil is so different in different areas. I think before you get anyone to change there crop, that has been gown here for centuries, they need to see some other crop do better here first. .  

[jerojero]

Air Chief Marshal...well-versed in domestic agriculture and ag-economics I'm sure! Probably couldn't ID a bean plant unless he was smoking it.

[CLW]

Seems every week they are coming out with something new. There was pineapples, then palm oil, then beans, potatoes, then corn, and now soybean. But I think my favorite one of all was a couple of weeks ago, when someone suggested you don't grow anything at all. As in that case you can't lose money. Perhaps that is the best advice of all.
 
Perhaps it is time to make changes, but the soil is so different in different areas. I think before you get anyone to change there crop, that has been gown here for centuries, they need to see some other crop do better here first. .  

Mostly agree, but as an example take cassava, which is relatively new to Thailand.
Many farmers tried their luck with it and saw it fail.
Still widely grown...

[Eric Loh]

Just stick to rice that the farmers know well for generations. Just improve the yields, distribution, encourage more cooperatives, soft loans for mechanization, attract the young and educated to farming, R&D, better training for the farmers, stricter monitoring of millers and traders and most important of all, STOP making suggestion for alternative crops that the soil is not suitable and put the farmers at more risks. Moreover none of the generals are farmers before and know nothing about farming. Got to get that rant of my system. Feel better now. 

[billd766]

21 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

Just stick to rice that the farmers know well for generations. Just improve the yields, distribution, encourage more cooperatives, soft loans for mechanization, attract the young and educated to farming, R&D, better training for the farmers, stricter monitoring of millers and traders and most important of all, STOP making suggestion for alternative crops that the soil is not suitable and put the farmers at more risks. Moreover none of the generals are farmers before and know nothing about farming. Got to get that rant of my system. Feel better now. 

 

The big problem with your ideas Eric is that by improving the quality and yields from the farmers is that more rice will be grown for the market which already has an over supply.

 

If enough farmers were to shift over to organic rice after a few years their income will have grown (though they will need government support during that period) that they shouldn't need an annual subsidy. Of course more organic rice coming onto the market will depress those prices too and so the circle keeps going around.

 

Ideally many farmers really need to quit rice farming to reduce the stockpiles and raise the market price. The problem then is how will the redundant farmers survive and live without a job or a subsidy?

[Eric Loh]

3 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

The big problem with your ideas Eric is that by improving the quality and yields from the farmers is that more rice will be grown for the market which already has an over supply.

 

If enough farmers were to shift over to organic rice after a few years their income will have grown (though they will need government support during that period) that they shouldn't need an annual subsidy. Of course more organic rice coming onto the market will depress those prices too and so the circle keeps going around.

 

Ideally many farmers really need to quit rice farming to reduce the stockpiles and raise the market price. The problem then is how will the redundant farmers survive and live without a job or a subsidy?

 

We have to look at rice production on a global perspective.The global over supply situation (especially with previous rice scheme) is behind us and we can expect only marginal increase likely to be from the sub-Saharan Africa and South America (International Grain Council Report). Meanwhile the demand for rice is expected to continue along an upward trajectory from increase consumption in Africa, EU (consuming more fiber base cereals than protein) and in general growing affluent and global population. Thailand have to reform rice policies to be more productive to be competitive in the global market and also lower the cost so farmers can live off rice farming. Personally, I feel that rice farms will decline naturally as there are no next generation of farmers and farmers selling their land to meet debt or get out of farming.   

[GOLDBUGGY]

5 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

The big problem with your ideas Eric is that by improving the quality and yields from the farmers is that more rice will be grown for the market which already has an over supply.

 

If enough farmers were to shift over to organic rice after a few years their income will have grown (though they will need government support during that period) that they shouldn't need an annual subsidy. Of course more organic rice coming onto the market will depress those prices too and so the circle keeps going around.

 

Ideally many farmers really need to quit rice farming to reduce the stockpiles and raise the market price. The problem then is how will the redundant farmers survive and live without a job or a subsidy?

I agree with what most has been said here, but what I see as a Big Problem is that in Thailand the Farmer gets $0.50 CAD per kilogram of Rice, but in the average Supermarket in Canada they are paying over $5.00 CAD a kilogram. Something wrong with that picture for sure. 

[Xircal]

Due to Yingluck's failed rice pledging scheme, Thailand lost its number one position to India.

 

However, tensions between India and Pakistan continue to grow and if the Kashmir conflict escalates, India might not be able to retain its position at the top of the rice exporting nations. That could lead to Thailand regaining the crown. That won't happen though if they switch to growing a different crop like soybean.