A growing number have selected quality rice varieties for their paddy fields and completely shunned chemicals.

“We have stepped in to promote good agricultural practices in Laos since 2014,” Nikom Ruamsit said in his capacity as a project team leader for the Mekong Institute in Laos.

He said the project – which covers about 80 farming families, many of them in Khammouane – has taken off thanks to collaboration with local authorities.

It is part of the Regional and Local Economic Development – East-West Economic Corridor, which the Mekong Institute started in 2013 with funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Mekong Institute executive director Watcharas Leelawat said his agency had chosen to promote rice-growing in Khammouane because although this zone was designated a “rice basket” of Laos, most local farmers did not grow the best rice varieties or engage in “neat” farming in the past.

“If they follow our approach, they can generate more income,” Watcharas said.

Nikom said his team not only recommended quality rice varieties to local farmers, but also provided them with training.

“We have organised training and practice sessions. We have even prescribed paddy tests to check if the crops are really free from chemicals,” he said.

Thong-orn Chantawongsa, who chairs the Good Farmer Group in Ban Phak E Too, Khammouane, said about 30 farmer families had joined the MI project over the past year.

“We have had to do a lot of paperwork. It was quite complicated for us at first. But after we were familiar with it, we benefited. We know clearly about the costs and profit,” he said.

Initially, Thong-orn said local farmers did not know exactly how the MI project would benefit them. That was why four farming families pulled out, as well as being unhappy with paperwork requirements.

“But those who have stayed put are now overjoyed. After the project helped us acquire a certificate for growing chemical-free rice, we were able to sell our crop at a much better price,” Thong-orn said. “Even better is the fact that we enjoy lower costs.”

He pointed out that in the past, farmers found it hard to sell their rice even when they offered it at lower prices.

Thong-orn said he would help promote “Good Agricultural Practice” among more local farmers, so that others can enjoy bigger incomes too.

The Mekong Institute has also made efforts to strengthen rice mills in Khammouane and encourage them to buy crops from farmers participating in its higher-quality project.

In 2014, a cooperative of 13 rice mills bought just 14,360 tonnes from local farmers. But in 2015, the cooperative bought 25,202 tonnes.

“We now provide counselling to rice mills that are interested in exporting their product,” Nikom said.

Pedsamorn Buapantawong, who runs the Wanida Rice Mill in Khammouane, said his facility had improved itself significantly based on the MI guidance in pursuit of the “Good Manufacturing Practice” certificate.

“We have boosted everything from buildings, machinery, equipment, processing and staff,” he said.

The Wanida Rice Mill has hired 15 staff. It now exports rice to Vietnam and Germany, plus other parts of Laos.

Pedsamorn said he would know before the end of this month whether his rice mill would get a Good Manufacturing certificate.

“If yes, we will be the first rice mill in Laos to have been certified,” he said.

He said his rice mill had also set its sights on being the first to pass the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point criteria.

“We hope to develop the Wanida Rice Mill as a learning centre for interested people in the end. We also hope the Wanida Rice Mill will help raise Laos’ agricultural industry standards,” he said.

Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand secretary-general Mana Nimitmongkol said yesterday that corruption in Thailand is still widespread and difficult to tackle. However, he said awareness among people to fight it has also increased, which is a good sign.

In the international community, Thailand’s image of a highly corrupt country is still an issue of concern, he said, and referred to the latest survey conducted by an international agency that monitors corruption around the world.

Transparency International has published its 2017 report of global corruption barometer entitled “People and Corruption: Asia Pacific”. It estimates that more than 900 million people across 16 surveyed places had paid a bribe in the past year when trying to access basic services such as education or healthcare. Bribery rates for countries vary considerably across the region – from 0.2 per cent in Japan to 69 per cent in India.

The bribery rate for Thailand is 41 per cent compared to Cambodia and Myanmar on 40 per cent. Vietnam’s rate is 65 per cent, while bribery rates for Indonesia and Malaysia are 32 per cent and 23 per cent respectively. The bribery rate for China is 26 per cent.

Thailand, however, does better than peers in terms of the level of corruption increasing last year. There is only 14 per cent sample of people who said that the level of corruption in the country had increased last year, compared to 35 per cent in Cambodia and 22 per cent in Myanmar. Around 65 per cent of people surveyed in Indonesia and 59 per cent in Malaysia said corruption in their countries increased last year.

Mana added that there are some encouraging signs as more and people and businesses organisations in Thailand participate in public campaigns against corruption. For example, recently local institutional investors teamed up to promote good governance among listed companies, saying they would not invest in companies listed on the stock market with less-than-transparent management.

While the government may have tried to grill corrupt politicians it, however, has been criticised for turning a blind eye to its ministers and associates. “The role of the present government is a subject for criticism among the public,” said Mana.

Transparency International interviewed nearly 22,000 people about their recent experience of corruption in 16 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region.

Police top the list of public services most often demanding a bribe. Just under a third of people who had come into contact with a police officer in the last 12 months said they paid a bribe, according to the report.

Overall, 38 per cent of the poorest people surveyed said they paid a bribe, which is the highest proportion of any income group.

Interestingly, younger people are being squeezed harder.

People aged under 35 are more likely to have to pay a bribe to access a public service, according to the report.

Similar proportions of both men and women have paid a bribe in the last 12 months, or 30 per cent of men and 27 per cent of women.

The agency also noted that what is clear is that public-sector graft is a crime that affects men and women, young and old, and rich and poor, and must be urgently addressed in order to further social progress in the region.

The report suggests lawmakers across the region need do much more to support whistleblowers and that governments must keep promises to combat corruption.

This report comes at a key moment when many governments in the region are preparing their agendas to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs set out development priorities for 2030, which include reducing corruption and bribery in all their forms.

The donation spree has given its famed elephant hospital a reprieve.

On Friday, founder Soraida Salwala posted on Facebook that when she checked the foundation’s Kasikornbank account, she discovered transfers of over Bt20 million had been made since last Monday.

She said she had not yet checked the foundation’s Siam Commercial Bank account.

She revealed that the balance on Monday had been Bt1,380,354, but on Friday it had soared to Bt21,328,433.

“I was lost for words, and could not hold back my tears,” she wrote. I told Doctor [vet] Ke to tell all staff of the foundation that I thanked them. Because of their work, the people have mercy for us to continue our work. I would like to express my utmost gratitude to the people.”

The Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation runs the world’s first elephant hospital in Lampang province, which opened 25 years ago.

On Monday, Soraida announced that she had a health problem and that her foundation was in a financial crisis, so she had no choice but to close the hospital.

The foundation works in partnership with governmental and non-governmental organisations, and local company Elephant Parade. Many fear that if the elephant hospital closes, aged and sick mammals would face an uncertain future.

‘Financially in the red’

The foundation has won recognition for its campaigns for the rights of Asian elephants and preventing the mammals being kept in big cities such as Bangkok. It was responsible for the full-time care of disabled elephants Motala, Mocha and Pai Bobo.

Soraida said in her Facebook post on Monday that the foundation had posted a negative balance sheet for 11 years in a row, overspending by more than Bt2 million.

Parks Department chief Thanya Netithammakul said the National Elephant Institute, under the department’s supervision, was willing to lend support to Soraida and help her treat the elephants.

The institute had worked with the foundation and was ready to help it again, Thanya added.

SHORTLY AFTER assuming office as education minister in December’s Cabinet reshuffle, Teerakiat Jareonsettasin introduced his first policy of helping schools in rural areas suffering quality problems get out of “intensive care”.

This ICU schools project will be carried out in parallel with the “magnetic schools” project, which encourages parents to send their children to good-quality – albeit not-so-large – schools near their homes and covers more than 15,000 small schools throughout the country.

The ultimate goal of the ICU schools project is to tackle the problem of educational inequality, according Teerakiat, who is a medical doctor and former deputy dean of Khon Kaen University’s Faculty of Medicine. He had served as deputy education minister before his current appointment.

Many school administrators may be reluctant to bring their schools into this project, as its might suggest theirs are in a severe condition. But Prasert Patchotchai, director of Tao Ngoi Pattana Suksa School in the northeastern Sakon Nakhon province, is not one of them.

Prasert admitted that he was initially hesitant and worried. However, after studying the project in detail, he found that it would benefit his school and help it solve its urgent problems, with the help of relevant agencies. So he decided his school should join the project.

“I am not afraid that the school’s image will be bad [after joining the project]. As a school administrator, I saw problems that are ‘illnesses’ of the school. When you are ill, you need to be treated. We have to be open-minded and dare to fix the problems to make things better,” Prasert said.

His school is one of more than 6,000 selected by the Office of Basic Education Commission to take part in the ICU project. It is the only secondary school in Tao Ngoi district, where most residents are in the farming sector. Tao Ngoi is 18 kilometres from Sakon Nakhon town (Muang district).

The latest annual evaluation found that the school needed to improve its quality urgently, particularly involving its students. Prasert said many students were found to lack eagerness in studying and analytical skills. Also, many of the children were found to come from troubled families, which in turn adversely affected their academic achievements.

Most graduates opted to enter the labour market or work in farming rather than go to university. However, due to a lack of vocational skills and proper guidance, several of them failed to find well-paid jobs, according Prasert.

The school’s Grade 12 students also fared poorly in the Ordinary National Educational Test (O-Net). Its average score for Thai Language in the 2015 academic year was 41.38 per cent, compared to the national average of 49.36. In mathematics, the school’s average was only 20.42 per cent, compared to the national average of 36.59. In science, the school’s average was 28.95 per cent, while the national average was 33.40.

In order to treat this “ICU school”, the plan calls for improvement of its students’ quality in many ways, starting from the upcoming 2017 academic year, said Prasert.

The “active learning” method will be adopted to encourage more student participation and “learning by doing”.

The school also will offer vocational courses for its higher-secondary school students (Grades 10-12), while a group of local business people have offered to give lectures – and their career success could hopefully inspire the students about their future plans, Prasert said.

The school also plans to have language labs for English and Mandarin to help improve the students’ foreign-language skills, he added.

In addition, there is a plan to boost the teachers’ morale by funding their participation in different teaching courses provided by the Education Ministry, at Bt10,000 per year for every teacher.

The school also will use more IT in its teaching and learning processes. Its library will be modernised and equipped with high-speed Internet and electronic tools such as smartphones.

“What the school expects from this project is for our students to get more knowledge and vocational skills while gaining inspiration for their future careers. After graduating, the students should be able to add more value to their families’ current career in the farming sector,” Prasert added.