Thai government's rice mortgage scheme made its debut yesterday

The government's rice mortgage scheme made its debut yesterday.

Deputy Commerce Minister Phum Saraphol, left, visits Sripattanapanich Rice Mill in Nonthaburi to observe the implementation of the government’s rice mortgage scheme that began yesterday. APICHIT JINAKUL

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra officially launched the project, a key policy platform of the Pheu Thai Party, at the Commerce Ministry.

She insisted that the project, which has been subject to heavy criticism by academics and technocrats as being vulnerable to corruption, is a means to boost farmers' income.

The prime minister also said the government has included many new measures in the scheme to ensure it is fair and free of cheating. These include the issuance of rice ownership documents, strict monitoring of cross-province transport of paddy and ultimately DNA testing to prevent cheaper rice from neighbouring countries being mortgaged under the programme.

Commerce Ministry permanent secretary Yanyong Phuangrach said farmers found violating the rules of the mortgage programme would be black-listed and barred from taking part in it for life.

Observing the first day of the mortgage scheme at Sripattanapanich Rice Mill in Nonthaburi, Deputy Commerce Minister Phum Saraphol said not many farmers came in yesterday. But the upside was it was not too crowded and some farmers could finish the mortgage process in a single day instead of three.

On concerns about the smuggling of rice from neighbouring countries, which sells at lower prices than the mortgage rate, Mr Phum said the police, Department of Special Investigation and provincial authorities would have to find ways to prevent such fraud.

He said technology is available that could check the rice DNA to determine if it is grown in Thailand or not, based on the original seeds given to farmers.

Bangkok MP Chuvit Kamolvisit on Thursday showed two video clips purportedly revealing rice smuggling from Cambodia into Thailand via Sa Kaeo province while the House was discussing the rice mortgage scheme.

Kittiratt Na-Ranong, deputy prime minister and commerce minister, said the government has set no target for the volume of paddy to be mortgaged under the programme and it will allow some room for free rice trading.

He said many rice millers chose not to participate. They can compete with the government to buy paddy from farmers. The same goes for rice exporters.

He said it was quite certain that the first-crop paddy to be mortgaged under the scheme would not reach the targeted 25 million tonnes because of damage caused by the widespread floods.

The commerce minister assured farmers that they need not worry about the volume of paddy the government will be able to buy or the adequacy of the funds.