Wishing farmers success, he also advised them to prepare for risks such as flooding and drought and adjust their farming according to water supply for timely harvests.

With farmers using the auspicious occasion to begin ploughing, sowing rice seeds or planting paddies in hope of a healthy harvest, many are urging the government to keep rice prices buoyant and control the cost of fertiliser.

In Tambon Bang Decha of Prachin Buri’s Muang district, 53-year-old Sawek Norasing said he and his relatives were sowing seeds on the family’s inherited 40-rai rice field. Sawek said he hoped the new government after the upcoming election would hike the rice price to at least Bt9,000 per tonne – compared to the current rate of Bt6,000-Bt7,000 per tonne. He said farmers were burdened with high production costs of Bt7,000-Bt10,000 per tonne for rice seeds and expensive fertiliser, among other things.

Farmer Wanthana Kwanyoo, 46, called for the Prayut administration’s

aid in raising the rice price to Bt9,000 per tonne and controlling the price for fertiliser and agro-chemicals.

In Buri Ram’s Muang district, Tambon Bua Thong farmer Khampin Phongpan, 59, said a price of Bt16,000 per tonne or Bt16 per kilo was necessary to secure farmers’ livelihoods. “Even with the abundant harvests, farmers are still in trouble if the rice price is low,” he said.

In Uttaradit’s Laplae district, agricultural workers performed a ritual to apologise to Mother Earth and the Goddess of Rice before beginning their season. Farmer Somboon Maneejamnong said the ritual was important to the “country’s backbone” – rice farmers – as it would bring about good harvests with crops that fetch a high price.

In Phichit’s Pho Prathap Chang district, farmers planted rice paddies to save water and time – rice seedlings reach maturity for harvesting 20 days faster than do rice seeds.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES – particularly blockchain, digital ID, and e-money – are being proposed by a research institute as the best sustainable solution for dealing with corruption and other problems in distributing social welfare.

The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has suggested the adoption of digital technologies to solve the chronic problem of corruption in the state welfare system. Their recommendation follows an investigation that found government staff unlawfully took the majority of the welfare money destined for those who need financial assistance in 67 out of 77 provinces.

Those at TDRI’s annual public conference held in Bangkok yesterday heard that corrupt officials use a loophole in the current welfare distribution system to benefit themselves. Use of new digital technology would seal these loopholes to ensure those needing special assistance from the state would actually get their welfare, researchers said.

TDRI researcher Boonwara Sumano pointed to two major weak points in the current welfare distribution system: identification of the persons eligible for subsidies, and the delivery of their welfare payments.

Boonwara said that processes for identifying the target groups of recipients and the appropriate welfare payment were inefficient and vulnerable to corruption. For example, she said, corrupt officials could simply use the national ID numbers of other persons in order to collect the money intended for those who were actually entitled to it. Solving that problem will need going beyond remedial measures already proposed, she said.

“There are suggestions to use bank transfers instead of directly distribute the welfare in cash to the people entitled to the state subsidy,” Boonwara said. “However, this method, though safer and harder to defraud, still has a problem in real implementation: Not all people, especially the poor and marginalised groups of people, have a bank account, with only 81 per cent of Thai citizens owning at least one bank account.”

Boonwara also said bank transfers were not safe from corruption. There were cases of fraud under this method of welfare distribution, as the corrupt officials can simply switch the destination bank accounts to the accounts of their relatives.

The latest example of this fraud involved the scholarship fund for poor female students, the Educational Fund for Life Development, from which more than Bt88 million was transferred to the bank accounts of corrupt officers and their relatives.

Given the problems with the traditional way for distributing welfare, Suttipong Kanakakorn, a member of the technical working group on national digital ID, suggested the fix lies with the new technologies of blockchain, digital ID, and e-money.

Suttipong said using blockchain would prove more efficient at preventing fraud in welfare distribution, as the information stored in a blockchain system is very easy to inspect and examine by all stakeholders.

Moreover, he said, distributing welfare funds by using e-money would be much easier for the people in need, who could collect the money directly while also spending it on lower-cost goods and services by just scanning a QR Code, using their national ID, or biometric identification.

Suttipong said that since many marginalised groups of people often have neither national ID cards nor bank accounts, digital ID could be adopted as the solution. Relevant agencies could survey and collect biometric information from these citizens and register their digital ID. Then welfare recipients could use their digital ID to receive their payments as e-money and spend it by using their digital ID in cash-free transactions.

“If many people do not agree with the BMA’s plan take over BACC, we will leave it,” Bangkok Governor Aswin posted.

“This valuable art and culture centre will be the pride of our city,” he added. His new approach appears to be to transfer management of the centre to the city in 2021.

Aswin’s first plan drew strong reactions on social media over the weekend, with many artists voicing their opposition via Facebook.

Meanwhile Kallaya Kassakul, the artist network coordinator, on Saturday posted a call on http://www.Change.org for supporters to join a campaign under the hashtag #freebacc.

As of Monday at 5pm, more than 13,000 supporters had agreed to fight to free the art centre from City Hall and allow the Art and Culture Centre Foundation to continue running it.

Today the Artists Network for Free BACC will head to Government House to propose in a letter to PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha that he dismiss Asawin over his initial plan to turn the arts centre into a learning centre staffed by BMA bureaucrats.

The letter contains three requests. First, that the BACC Foundation continue running the art centre. Second, funding the art centre be made BMA policy. Finally, he dismissal of Governor Aswin. The group will be led by Vasan Sithiket, Chumpol Apisuk and Manit Stowanichoom.

Meanwhile, the BMA Council, chaired by Asawin, is scheduled to hold a meeting today to find the solution to the dispute.

The meeting will discuss two issues. First, whether to allow the non-profit BACC Foundation to run the art centre until the current contract is runs out in 2021. Second, whether to transfer its management to the BMA’s Culture, Sport and Tourism Department after 2021.

“It’s up from 30.94 per cent in 2012 to 34.84 per cent in 2016,” Dr Chantana Padungtod said earlier this week, speaking in her capacity as the head of the Disease Control Department’s Bureau of Occupational and Environmental Diseases.

The 2016 monitoring operation conducted blood tests for 418,672 farmers across 72 provinces. Through interviews with the farmers, researchers were able to identify those at “high” or “quite high” risk. This group with was then subjected to blood tests.

“Of those tested, 153,905 were found to have risks of developing health issues,” she said.

The blood tests used reactive paper to determine if a farmer’s level of the enzyme cholinesterase had dropped. A person’s cholinesterase level will fall if herbicides such as organophosphate or carbamate have entered their body.

Organophosphate and carbamate affect the vitally important central and peripheral nervous systems, and also muscles.

“Common symptoms of exposure are difficulty breathing, vomiting, hands shaking and cramp,” Chantana explained.

She urged farmers to avoid overusing herbicide and pesticides because they cause double damage – to their finances and then their health.

“Farmers will have to spend money for chemical purchases. Later on, they will also develop health problems from chemical exposure,” she said.

Chantana added that farmers’ exposure to harmful chemicals signalled that consumers might be affected too.

“Farm chemicals may contaminate crops as well as the environment,” she said.

Recent reports indicated that there was a high concentration of paraquat – a widely used herbicide – in Nong Bua Lamphu province and that it could be related to several cases of necrotising fasciitis, or “flesh-eating” disease, in the area.

The Hazardous Substance Control Committee will decide on whether to ban paraquat and chlorpyrifos, and to restrict the use of glyphosate at its meeting on May 23. Use of these chemicals is currently widespread in the country’s agricultural sector.

Chantana also noted that farmers face other health risks related to their occupation.

“For example, they are at risk of catching diseases that can be transmitted by animals, such as leptospirosis and bird flu,” she pointed out. As well, long exposure to hot weather can cause heat stroke, which is sometimes fatal. Also, farmers are vulnerable to developing back injuries and pain while working in fields.

Despite its romantic image, the history of stress-related illnesses in farming reflects its high level of financial stress from declining crop prices and poverty. “In serious cases, they may suffer depression and attempt suicide,” said Chantana.

As well, farmers suffer a relatively high risk of accident from handling agricultural machinery and climbing trees.

The Disease Control Department has been supporting primary healthcare units and tambon-level hospitals in assessing farmers’ risks and recommending advice, she said.

The group, including a boy, climbed out of a holding centre in the province’s Rattaphum district, according to police.

Victims of human-trafficking rings, they have been held in the centre over the past months as they await a resettlement programme and deportation.

The group fled the holding facility on Monday morning and could be hiding out in a nearby rubber plantation or forested area, but officials had no clue of their whereabouts as of late evening.

Thailand is a transit point for Rohingya migrants from both Myanmar and refugee camps in Bangladesh.

They prefer resettlement in predominantly Muslim countries in Southeast Asia like Malaysia and Indonesia.

While many of them take a sea journey across the Indian Ocean, some travel overland through the Kingdom.

Thailand has no policy of welcoming them and they are charged with illegal entry if arrested in the country.

Those demonstrating against potash exploration in the area continued their protest and blocked the entrance to the drilling site on Monday, despite the police having displayed a notice that their protest was against the Public Gathering Act and that they must end their action by midday on Tuesday.

The protesters against potash mining in Sakon Nakhon’s Wanon Niwat district released a statement highlighting what they said was negligence on the part of the authorities in regard to their duty to protect the people’s interest, and their failure to comply with local people’s demand to halt the exploration mission and ensure China Mingda Potash Corporation had followed all legal requirements for exploring for the mineral in their communities.

Monday marked the fifth consecutive day that the local residents had banded together and tried to stop the exploration team of China Mingda from entering the fourth drilling site to explore the amount of potash underground, which locals fear will finally lead to the construction of an underground mine in their locality.

Following the intervention from the local authorities, police and military officers, the protesters expressed their disappointment toward the authorities’ actions, which they said not only ignored the people’s demands, but also overtly facilitated the mission of the Chinese potash-mining company.

Therefore, the demonstrators took to publicly condemning the authorities in their statement and expressed their intention to further pursue their original demands to stop potash exploration in their area.

Primary Industries and Mines Department director-general Wisanu Tabtieng clarified last Friday that the China Mingda potash-exploration plan had received full permission from the landowner, and that it was legal for the operation to go ahead.

As of 6pm, China Mingda decided to withdraw all equipment out of the area without drilling a potash exploration well.

Construction for four electric train lines across Bankgok City will worsen road traffic that is traditionally already jammed during rush hour as the school term kicks off and parents and children settle into their pick-up routine. The semester begins the week of May 16-21.

Construction contractors have been asked to clear the road surface and potholes ahead of the student return in an effort to help alleviate the chaos, said the MRTA.

The agency has posted information and maps on its web pages (facebook.com/MRTA.PR/ and mrta.co.th) to help motorists avoid traffic jams around construction for the four lines.

The four lines and some of the affected schools are:

1. The Green Line mass transit system (Mo Chit–Saphan Mai-Khu Khot). Schools include Horwang, Satrivoranart Bangkhen and Sarawittaya.

2. The Orange Line mass transit system (Taling Chan–in Buri) Schools include Thepleela, Bodindecha (Sing Singhaseni) and Demonstration School of Ramkhamhaeng University.

3. The Yellow Line mass transit system (Lat Phrao–Samrong). Schools include Pibool Uppatham and Thanormpitvitthaya.

4. The Pink Line mass transit system (Khae Rai-–Min Buri). Schools include Chonprathansongkroh, Wat Phrasri Mahadhat Secondary Demonstration School, Sai-aksorn and Setthabutbamphen.

Note: There may be additional schools affected in all areas.

The thirst resulting as a side effect of commonly prescribed medications could prompt them to drink too much water and leave them at risk of contracting potentially deadly hyponatremia.

There are 2.6 million people in Thailand known to be taking medication for psychiatric issues, 60 per cent of them for schizophrenia.

Mental Health Department director general Dr Boonreung Traireungworarat on Monday advised these people to limit their daily water intake to 1,500 to 3,000cc, depending on the weather.

He said drinking more than 3,000cc a day over several consecutive days could lead to “water intoxication” – hyponatremia.

The water dilutes sodium in the blood, causing an imbalance that could trigger nausea and vomiting, headaches, confusion, fatigue, restlessness and irritability, muscle weakness or cramps, seizures and even coma.

Boonreung urged anyone displaying such symptoms to immediately see a doctor.

Dr Noppadol Vanichrudee, acting director of the Bangkok-based Somdet Chaopraya Institute of Psychiatry, said people need 0.033 litres of water daily for every kilogram of body weight. Someone weighing 60kg should be drinking 1,980cc of water a day, about two litres.

He said the institute treated three or four psychiatric patients a month for water intoxication.

People at risk might carry a glass or bottle of water around with them, spend a long time on the toilet and shun food in favour of liquids, he said.

He advised family members or caretakers to see that their charges drink less water (possibly using a daily diary and a reward system), sip rather than guzzle water, and curb their thirst instead with small ice cubes or sugar-free chewing gum.

The Mental Health Department hotline, 1323, provides free guidance around the clock.