Plunging rice prices are nothing new for Thailand, which has been plagued by the issue repeatedly over the years as our output of rice for export grew.
International markets are partly responsible, but focusing only on this end point means we have overlooked the root of the problems and thus the opportunity to fix them.
Since the latest rice crisis emerged a few weeks ago, civic and other sectors of society have stepped in to help absorb oversupply in the hope of shoring up falling prices. Social media has been abuzz with information about the situation, including tips on how ordinary citizens can help.
Meanwhile the government has announced a budget so far worth nearly Bt60 billion to help absorb yields in farmers’ silos. These efforts seem to have brought some relief for farmers struggling to sell their main-crop harvest at a sustainable profit.
Yet there are more headaches on the way, with the season’s second crop set to pile more rice into the already slumping market.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha seems to have realised the seriousness of the situation, telling media on Tuesday that the government was working to overhaul the entire system of national rice production and sales. He touched upon fundamental issues  ranging from farmers’ debts, their strengths and their bargaining power in the market, to reforming rice production.
The issues addressed by Prayut are in line with studies conducted by several economists and rice experts, including Dr Narong Petchprasert, whose in-depth research published in the book “Rice Politics” unveils the network of relations that exist between rice, farmers, silos, millers, middlemen, the government and others.
Narong, who teaches political economy at Chulalongkorn University, addressed those relations again in a recent Facebook post that explained the root causes of the plunging prices.
However, his main focus was the failure of successive governments’ policy to tackle the problems systematically. Narong said past administrations had simply injected vast amounts of taxpayers’ money to shore up the rice prices every time they dropped. They had done little meanwhile to address actual problems of rice production, instead implementing policies that encouraged farmers to grow more and more rice without proper planning, thus draining their capital over time and not responding to real demand in the market.
This is not yet to mention other problems that further undermine efforts to tackle the issue – including political exploitation of rice production. Given that millions of farmers are involved, it’s no surprise that rice is often treated as a political tool with which to achieve office or else pressure opponents through inciting protests.
But farmers will not be freed from exploitation and harsh market realities until we start.
Until we get serious about addressing these issues, farmers will remain at the mercy of exploitation and harsh market realities.
PM Prayut and his government have shown vision and demonstrated that have seen what lies beneath the crisis. Now they need to back that vision with seriousness and courage to break the chains holding farmers, for the sake of better outcomes for all.
Prayut’s post-coup administration now has an ideal opportunity to earn trust from citizens it originally deprived of democracy. With no political opposition, now is time to confront this issue and tackle it, seriously and courageously.