ACADEMICS have proposed that farmers employ relatives sell to rice to friends to remove middlemen and help to tackle falling prices.
Since the price of paddy had dropped to just Bt5 per kilogram, and was expected to drop further once the harvest season ends in November, Kasetsart University economics lecturer Decharut Sukkumnoed said farmers’ families should help to bring rice directly to consumers.
“The main reason for the low price is that the market is monopolised. As we can see, the price of paddy is dropping but the price of polished rice is still high. Therefore, in order to address this problem, we have to let the producers and consumers meet each other through farmers’ children,” Decharut said.
“We need a new marketing strategy and new sales people. Farmers’ relatives can take up this role and put the rice directly in the consumer’s hands, especially since the latest crop is set to be harvested next month,” he said.
Decharut said farmers should be able to get at least Bt8 per kilogram for plain white rice and Bt15 per kilogram for jasmine rice – prices that were acceptable – if they did not deal with middlemen.
“When the crops are harvested in November, the rainy season crop will enter the market at the same time. Hence, the price of paddy will drop much further, so we have to start campaigning to let farmers know that they don’t have to sell their produce at really low prices to middlemen. Instead, the farmers can have their relatives in the city sell the rice,” he said.
The economist admitted that there were many challenges ahead for rice retailers, including the milling and packaging of the product, the quality of rice, transportation of the product, and finally marketing.
He added that academics could provide advice and help farmers’ relatives to start small rice-selling businesses, with a training session to be held at Kasetsart University’s Faculty of Economics on Sunday.
He also asked the government to support new rice entrepreneurs by providing them with financial support, since most farmers were in desperate situations and had no choice but to sell paddy at low prices to middlemen.
Winthita Palamit, a farmer from Lamphun’s Li district, said she planned to sell rice online so her family and neighbours could get a fair price.
“Normally, most of the rice produced by my family is for our own consumption, while the excess is sold to our friends. However, many of our neighbours have no choice but to sell their produce at very low prices to middlemen. So, I’m planning to set up a shop online to help them sell| rice at an acceptable price,” Winthita said.