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Published on March 29, 2008

The Commerce Ministry has predicted that the price of jasmine rice might reach Bt30,000 to Bt31,000 per tonne in the next few months, compared to Bt15,000 currently. This should be welcomed by Thais because rice farmers represent a majority of the population. The rising price is part of a global trend in which food prices are set to rise further due to the shortage of agricultural products. Vietnam, another major rice producing country, recently decided to control rice exports largely because of domestic food security concerns. The rice harvest is scheduled to run behind schedule because of drastic weather in Vietnam.

Besides, rising oil prices have prompted several countries to set aside a portion of their land to grow plants such as sugar cane, maize and oil palm that can be used for bio-fuel production. In short, farm products are set to have a bright future in the years to come.

However, the Thai government has yet to come up with a strategy to enable Thai farmers to benefit from the rising farm prices on the world market.

For two decades, the government has been striving to develop the industrial sector because it thinks this should help boost the economy. The prices of farm products normally fluctuate, discouraging later generations of farmers to continue their parents' work. Several have left the farm sector to work in industries.

However, world food prices over the past few years have steadily increased. Economists predict that this will continue in the years to come.

Investors no longer see farm goods as merely a consumer product; they are seen as profitable commodities. After oil and gold prices reached new highs, or the peak of their cycles, investors shifted to commodities because their prices are seen to be in the middle of their cycle. In short, these products have the potential to rise further.

Deutsche Bank recently predicted that the five farm products that would enjoy the biggest price rise in the next three to four years were sugar, cotton, soy beans, wheat and maize. But the government - and the previous one - has not come up with any plan to help farmers enhance their potential to full capacity to benefit from the high demand for farm products in the world market.

The government's priority seems to focus on plans to promote investment or mega projects for urbanites.

Politicians tend to offer the farmers populist policies such as handout money or a debt moratorium. But none have proposed any concrete plan to help farmers develop their production skills to benefit from the world's higher demand for farm goods.

What we have heard recently is the government's short-term measure to help urban consumers by offering rice at lower prices. This is done by selling rice from the government's stock at a cheap price. This is despite the fact that by seeing the price rise, consumers should be able to better realise the value of the commodity.

The recent price rise shows that the value of our fields should be compared to gold. And it's time for the government to look into ways to help farmers capitalise on their resources in a sustainable manner.

The Nation