Asia Sentinel

Rice Shortage: Crisis or Hype?

JET DAMAZO
29 May 2008

The world’s rice crisis seems to have come and gone

Whatever happened to the rice crisis? In April, reports of a global food crisis and exorbitant spikes in food prices hogged headlines after major-rice exporting countries announced export restrictions and importing countries — the Philippines in particular — scrambled to secure rice supplies from neighboring countries.

Just a month later, however, prices have begun to fall, the export ban has been lifted in Cambodia and both Vietnam and India, two other rice-exporting nations, have suggested they may lift restrictions as well amid a growing realization by governments that there is no immediate rice shortage after all. The price fell Wednesday to the lowest in more than two months and has fallen by nearly 30 percent. Mentions of rice shortage in the news now have the words “alleged” and “perceived” attached to them — but not before the global panic over rice supplies caused prices to shoot up to around $1,000 per metric ton in the global market.

The leader of the world’s largest rice importer, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is now being attacked by critics for actions that would otherwise have been praised if the shortage had been real—raising farm gate prices to encourage local farmers to produce more rice, jailing rice hoarders and promoting alternative staples like sweet potatoes to her rice-consuming constituents — saying these led to more hoarding and pushed prices higher. The Philippines, it turns out, has 54 days of rice stocks on hand, nearly double China’s.

“The price increase was induced by hype,” claims Rosario Bella Guzman, executive editor of local think tank IBON Foundation, after local rice prices increased by over 20 percent over the first quarter of the year—from P23.31 (US 53¢) per kilo of regular milled rice in January to P29.70 in April.

A memo from the country’s agriculture department to the office of the president in February, she says, said that the government needed to import 2.4 million metric tons of rice because of increasing global prices and tightening supply growth, even though the projected shortfall was only around 1.4 million metric tons. “The Philippines was panic buying at exorbitant rates,” she adds. “The excess would only end up in private warehouses.”

So was the rice shortage real or perceived? Adam Barclay, a spokesperson for the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), based in the Philippines, maintains that the real underlying cause of the rice price increase is the long-term imbalance between demand and supply, which has gradually pushed up prices since 2001.

“The long-term demand and supply imbalance implies that we have been consuming more than what we have been producing. This gap between demand and supply was met by depleting rice stocks which are now down to a 20-year low,” Barclay said. “This rise in price accelerated towards the end of 2007 as traditional exporting countries such as India and Vietnam imposed export restrictions.”

The problem was exacerbated by the disastrous results of Cyclone Nargis in Burma, which virtually destroyed the rice production capability of the Irrawaddy River Delta. Burma, which had contracted to sell 600,000 tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, was suddenly turned into a net importer, needing about 500,000 tonnes, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. In addition, North Korea appears to be headed into serious famine and faces a shortfall of as much as a million tonnes of grains, not necessarily rice, although the country’s problems can be expected to cut into other world grain stocks, which are in increasingly short supply.

In addition, according to the just-released OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook for 2008 through 2017, “the overall trend of rising output masks an expected fall in (planted area) due to rivalry with other crops and nonagricultural sectors for land.” Rice is also expected to gain importance in African diets, where consumption per capita is expected to rise by about 10 percent annually over the next decade

But Barclay acknowledged that the combination of export restrictions from some countries and the need for imports from other countries, including speculations and panicked reactions following the ban in rice exports, did contribute to the sudden spike in rice price in March-April this year.

“Other factors include the rapid rise in price of oil (which has raised the cost of fertilizer, irrigation and transport) and pest and weather problems in several key rice-growing areas (for example pest problems in Vietnam, floods in Bangladesh, and drought in the Philippines and Australia),” Barclay added. “The convergence of these problems with several longer-term trends, such as population growth, economic growth and shifting diets in India and China, the increasing popularity of rice in Africa, and a leveling off of productivity growth prompted the rapid price rises.”

Food security expert Mohiuddin Alamgir, former director for policy and planning at the International Fund for Agricultural Development and currently a consultant with the Asian Development Bank, also agrees that the country’s actions, along with speculative commodities traders and opportunistic rice traders, contributed to the spike in prices.

"There is a structural gap in the country’s supply and demand of rice, which is why the Philippines is now the world’s largest importer of rice. The world knows this and so the country’s actions will always impact the market,” Alamgir explained, adding that the manner in which the government came into the market can be debated, as it may have sent the wrong signal. But, he says, had it not been for Arroyo’s actions, the country would have been in a worse situation, prices today would have been much higher, and lines at the government’s subsidized rice stores would have been longer.

“The country’s problem was that it did not plan properly,” he adds. “But people are hurting and they would have hurt more had it not been for the actions taken. Food security is as important as national security, and so governments have to make sure people have food.”

http://www.bangkokpost.com/250508_News/25May2008_news10.php

Rice farmers dig in over foreigners' land

Opposition mounts to Saudi venture



By Sunthorn Pongpao & Thai News Agency

The Thai Farmers Association called on concerned agencies yesterday to look into land occupation by foreign businessmen, which has made many of the country's rice farmers landless. ''Vast areas of farmland in the western and northeastern provinces have fallen into the hands of Taiwanese businessmen, while investors from the United States have also bought a number of plots in the fruit-growing province of Phetchabun,'' said association member Wichian Phuanglamchiak.

''Widespread land acquisitions by these foreign landlords has already made a good number of rice farmers landless, forcing them to rent the same land for rice growing from foreigners,'' he said.

His call came in the wake of an alleged plan to support Saudi Arabian businessmen keen on putting their money in rice farming and setting up a joint rice export venture.

The plan has drawn fierce protests from paddy farmers, who fear they will soon end up being landless farmers if foreigners are not stopped from buying more rice growing areas.

The association said yesterday it would write to Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, asking him to scrap the plan.

The plan is reportedly the brainchild of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who took a group of Saudi businessmen on a tour of a rice production centre in the Buffalo Village of Chart Thai party secretary-general Prapat Pothasuthon in Suphan Buri on Wednesday.

Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Somsak Prissananantakul, from the Chart Thai party, also opposes the plan, saying the idea was ''tantamount to selling the nation''.

But Mr Somsak yesterday denied the remark had anything to do with Mr Thaksin.

''I have to apologise to Mr Thaksin if he feels he's been dragged into the dispute for no apparent reason, which might cause him damage,'' said Mr Somsak in Chiang Mai, the hometown of Mr Thaksin.

Chart Thai leader Banharn Silpa-archa said yesterday that Mr Somsak's harsh comment could have resulted from some misunderstandings.

Mr Banharn said Mr Thaksin phoned him before Wednesday's trip, saying he only wanted to show foreigners how rice farming is done in Thailand, and how the sector could be further developed with the help of modern agricultural technology.

Mr Prapat's interview had misled the public into believing that foreign investors were being encouraged by Mr Thaksin to buy up all the paddy fields, he said.

Mr Thaksin's spokesman Pongthep Thepkanjana defended Mr Thaksin yesterday by saying that the former prime minister only wanted to do things he thinks will benefit the nation.

--

At 08:14 PM -0700 05/25/08, Betsy R. Cramer wrote:
It's sad but it's an international issue: few people want to live on a farm in this internet globalized world. I think it is a universal belief that working with one's hands, farming, is inferior to getting an education and a well-paying job in the/a city. That old song, How You Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm After They've Seen Paree?, would apply to Thailand, except maybe it could be rewritten to say, How You Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm After They've Travelled Online and Seen the World Wide Web? It's the ever-present downside of education...... And to get that education and the perceived benefits costs $, and the only capital most have is their land.

At 08:16 AM -0700 05/26/08, Mac Bakewell wrote:
Yes, exactly, except that the families in our hardly atypical village who have either sold or mortgaged their land were influenced more by television, which they've had access to since the arrival of electricity in 1980, than by the Internet, which few adults in rural Thailand have ever seen. Whatever the influence, the families I know who have recently sold or mortgaged their land have reinvested the proceeds in diesel pickups rather than education.

A car is the ultimate status symbol in Thailand and, because of the way vehicles are taxed, diesel pickups are the most affordable option. Trouble is, land is so cheap and vehicles so expensive that the sale or mortgage of a typical family farm yields only enough for a down payment on a $20- $30-thousand Toyota, Nissan, or Isuzu. Thanks in part to a cultural disinclination toward maintenance, this purchase typically leaves the extended family in debt over a shiny new toy that will have depreciated to near zero long before the loan is paid off.

Still, urban migration does seem inevitable. The young people who, with or without education, have already moved to the cities send money home to sustain their parents who are raising the grandchildren in the village. (The long-term social ramifications of these abridged-extended families remain to be seen.) Very few of the young people who have moved away are doing well enough in the cities to enjoy being separated from the social fabric of the village, but many of those who can afford to do so have begun investing in better schooling for their own kids.

Thus rural brain-drain is already a reality, and I'm not sure where this is going to end up. Some farmers, like the outside investors, are astute enough to recognize that agriculture is a potentially profitable enterprise. If such farsighted folks can devise ways to inspire their communities to pool their resources, and to persuade their educated sons and daughters to stay on, then they might not have to watch their villages devolve into company towns.

That hasn't happened in many places in the USA, and it is unlikely that it will in Thailand. Rural poverty is a common factor in both countries, but in terms of cooperative communities some Thai villages come pretty close to the Amish model, which has proven remarkably competitive with corporate farming in the USA.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=127743

Taking the green plunge

Organic rice farmers enjoy double benefits

May 20, 2008

By Peter Janssen, dpa

Rice prices have more than doubled, so paddy in the field means money in the bank or debts paid off. Thai farmers growing organic rice have even more to smile about.

Although organic rice farming is still miniscule in Thailand, where most farmers remain attached to their chemical fertilisers and industrial pesticides, those who have taken the green plunge are reaping double rewards this year.

"If you use chemical fertiliser you have to buy from the market and now the price of fertiliser is very high because it is linked to oil prices," said Upin Khasana, an organic rice farmer in Sanam Chai Ket district of Chachoengsao province, 60 kilometres east of Bangkok.

Upin belongs to a 15-family co-op of farmers who decided to switch to organic rice growing seven years ago, with technical input from Green Net, a non-governmental organisation that promotes organic farming in Thailand and helps farmers sell their crops on the domestic market and abroad.

The Chachoengsao co-op uses only natural fertiliser - cow and goat droppings - and no chemical pesticides. In return, Green Net buys their rice at a premium price, usually a little above the market's, and handles the certification process under the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), selling under the Green Net brand name.

After 14 years in the business, Green Net is only producing about 2,000 tons a year of organic rice, supplied by cooperatives in Yasothon, Chiang Mai, Uttaradit, Loei, Khon Khen and Chachoengsao provinces.

"We started out just selling locally, but now we export about 85 per cent," said Vitoon Panyakul, director of the Green Net.

Green Net's only competitor in the organic rice trade is the Capital Rice Company, one of Thailand's leading rice exporters.

Capital Rice started an organic rice farm project in Chiang Rai province in 1991, at the request of Italy's Riseria Monferrato S.p.A., a major rice distributor in Europe.

Last year, Capital Rice exported about 1,000 tons of organic rice under its Great Harvest brand, mainly to Europe.

"If you compare that to Capital Rice's total exports, it is very small, less than 1 per cent," said Wanlop Pichpongsa, deputy managing director of the company.

Thailand's total rice exports last year amounted to 9.55 million tons, earning the country 3.6 billion dollars. This year's rice exports are estimated to reach 8.75 million tons, earning as much as 4.7 billion dollars, winning farmers and exporters a bonanza from higher commodity prices, ramped up by high oil prices and artificial shortages caused by export bans in India and Vietnam.

If anything, the doubling of rice prices this year is probably bad news for organic rice traders such as Green Net and Capital Rice, since higher prices will encourage farmers to try to produce more paddy by using more chemical fertilisers.

"In a way it is okay, because we will see that those who remain with us are really committed to the organic cause," said Green Net's Vitoon. "So it's a way to shake things up a bit and see who is in it just for the money and who is committed."

Capital Rice has put its organic rice expansion plans on hold, also because of uncertainty about farmers' "commitment."

"The character of a community has to be suitable for organic farming," noted Wanlop. "Not every community is suitable. For instance, the rice growers in the central plains can grow rice two- three times a year by using chemicals and pesticides, so they are not interested."

But for the organic rice growers of Sanam Chai Khet in Chanchoengsao, staying committed to the organic cause is more about choosing a lifestyle.

"We do it for our lives more than for the money," said Nutchainat Keowuwee, a member of the Chachoengsao Green Net co-op. "My husband worked with chemical fertiliser for a long time and he became sick. His health was no good. That's one reason I switched to organic."

In Sanam Chai Khet, as in most rice growing villages in Thailand, the farmers keep most of their rice harvest for their own consumption through the year, selling only a portion of it to Green Net for sale on the domestic or export markets.

"The price we get for our rice is about the same as the market price, but what we get is better health," said Uenfah Chamkhet, another co-op member. "We are saving money on medical bills."

--

— The economics in the opening and closing paragraphs don't match up , but there are some interesting morsels in between. — Mac

Yahoo News - AFP

Myanmar says more than 133,000 dead, missing in cyclone

May 16, 2008

Satellite photos: Burma Before and After Cyclone Nagris

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar said Friday that more than 133,000 people were dead or missing in the cyclone disaster, nearly doubling the toll from the worst disaster in the country's history, which hit two weeks ago.

Even as the regime again rejected calls for international aid workers to help direct the massive relief effort, state media acknowledged that the scope of the disaster had prevented confirmation of the figures.

State television said 77,738 were dead and 55,917 missing -- with 19,359 people injured -- according to the latest figures confirmed on Thursday.

It said 159 government staff were among the dead, with 58 missing and another four who were injured. No other details were given.

The stunning new toll nearly doubled the roughly 71,000 dead or missing given by state media the previous day, and comes amid mounting foreign pressure on the country's secretive military rulers to allow a full-scale aid effort.

Aid agencies believe 2.5 million people who survived the powerful storm are still in dire need of food, water, shelter or medical care, and have warned that the death toll will rise unless they get help immediately.

But the European Union's aid chief, who held two days of talks with the ruling generals, said earlier that they would not budge on the issue of foreign disaster experts -- angering the international community.

Heavy rains on Friday again pounded the devastated southern Irrawaddy Delta region, compounding the misery for one of the poorest and most isolated countries in the world.

Louis Michel, the EU's humanitarian aid commissioner, was due to leave the secretive nation later in the day after failing to get permission to visit the delta, which has been all but sealed off to journalists and outsiders.

He said the regime, which has long been suspicious of the outside world and any influence that could weaken its control on power here, would not explain why they continued to refuse visas for most foreign disaster emergency experts.

"They didn't answer the question, and they did not give any reason," Michel told AFP.

But Western diplomats who declined to be named said the regime was taking them to the delta on Saturday, but have no further details about where they would be going.

Michel said he had been taken to "a rather perfect, organised camp" outside the main city of Yangon, far from the flooded and devastated delta region where aid groups say many survivors have still not received help.

Myanmar's southeast Asian neighbours meanwhile were gearing up for talks in Singapore on Monday aimed at convening a high-level donors meeting.

A UN source said a donor meeting would likely take place in southeast Asia, probably Bangkok, with May 24 suggested as a possible date.

The junta has said that the country will welcome aid shipments but has steadfastly refused to bow to international pressure to let in most outside workers, saying it can manage the disaster on its own.

Michel has warned that the impoverished country, once a rich British colony known as Burma, is at risk of famine after Cyclone Nargis wiped out vast swathes of the country's rice-growing delta region.

Despite the humanitarian emergency, the government announced victory in a national referendum on a new constitution, held last Saturday with parts of the country still underwater and tens of thousands of people unaccounted for.

It said the vote, the first here since 1990, was a step on the road to democracy, but critics say it will only tighten the military's grip on power. Another round of voting is scheduled for May 24.

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=92212

MYANMAR: Government denies foreign journalists' entry

Military junta limits foreign aid and news coverage of post-Cyclone Nargis devastation

By Debory Li
AsiaMedia Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 13, 2008

BBC journalist Andrew Harding was deported from Myanmar last week after attempting to report about the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.

According to an Agence France-Presse report, state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar first covered the story, saying Harding was deported due to visa violations. He attempted to enter Myanmar with a tourist visa rather than an official journalist visa. Harding had done this twice before and was blacklisted from entering the country.

New Light of Myanmar accused Western journalists of illegally entering Myanmar and writing falsehoods with the aid of anti-government groups within the country. Foreign journalists have been denied access to the country, and in the case of CNN reporter Dan Rivers, have resorted to sneaking inside it -- only to be hunted by the government. Local journalists face harassment and imprisonment for reporting on stories that may offend the ruling junta.

"The military regime wants to conceal the extent of the damage. And they don't want the Burmese people telling foreigners the true story," said Irrawaddy editor Aung Zaw, according to an Associated Press report.

Nonetheless, images and reports of the post-cyclone devastation have reached the rest of the world. Myanmar's state-run television station said the death toll has reached more than 34,000 after Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on May 3, 2008 and estimated that nearly 28,000 people are missing. The U.S. charge d'affaires in Yangon, Shari Villarosa, however, estimated the death toll is over 100,000.

U.N. officials said that at least two-thirds of the 1.5 million people in need of aid have not received it, according to a Bloomberg report. Recovery efforts remained stalled while the military government delays accepting foreign aid and imposes stringent restrictions.

Estimates by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization revealed that the five states hit hardest by Cyclone Nargis account for 65 percent of the country's rice production. "There is likely going to be incredible shortages in the next 18 to 24 months," economist Sean Turnell told the Associated Press.

Date Posted: 5/13/2008

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/business/2008/May/business_May339.xml&section=business&col=

Saudis to start growing rice in Thailand by the end of 2008

(Reuters) 10 May 2008

DUBAI — Saudi Arabia, one of the world's top rice buyers, is likely to start investing in rice farms in Thailand by the end of 2008 in a move to boost security of food supply, industry sources and traders said yesterday.

"A number of private companies and Saudi officials already met last week with Thai investors to discuss possible partnerships," said a Gulf industry source. "Those interested will be looking at meeting domestic demand and then exporting to neighbouring Gulf Arab countries, mainly the UAE," he told Reuters.

India, the world's second-biggest rice exporter in 2007, banned all non-basmati rice shipments in March, one of a series of protectionist measures worldwide that triggered a wave of panic buying, causing benchmark Thai prices to nearly treble.

Last year Saudi Arabia imported 960,000 tonnes of rice, making it the world's sixth biggest rice importer, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

Around 70 per cent of the kingdom's rice imports were basmati rice, while Thai rice accounted for 10 per cent, traders said.

Saudi Arabia's cabinet on Monday approved plans to coordinate state and private sector activities, and to increase Saudi investments overseas in fisheries, livestock and food production.

"Saudi Arabia is trying to get companies investing together in rice farms in Thailand, and they are aware that companies here do not want to invest independently," one dealer said.

http://www.afet.or.th/v081/english/news/commodityShow.php?id=580

Saudi may start growing rice in Thailand by end '08

May 9, 2008
By Summer Said

DUBAI, May 9 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, one of the world's top rice buyers, is likely to start investing in rice farms in Thailand by the end of 2008 in a move to boost security of food supply, industry sources and traders said on Friday.

"A number of private companies and Saudi officials already met last week with Thai investors to discuss possible partnerships," said a Gulf industry source, who asked to remain anonymous.

"Those interested will be looking at meeting domestic demand and then exporting to neighbouring Gulf Arab countries, mainly the United Arab Emirates," he told Reuters.

India, the world's second-biggest rice exporter in 2007, banned all non-basmati rice shipments in March, one of a series of protectionist measures worldwide that triggered a wave of panic buying, causing benchmark Thai prices to nearly treble.

Last year Saudi Arabia imported 960,000 tonnes of rice, making it the world's sixth biggest rice importer, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

Around 70 percent of the kingdom's rice imports were basmati rice, while Thai rice accounted for 10 percent, traders said.

Saudi Arabia's cabinet on Monday approved plans to coordinate state and private sector activities, and to increase Saudi investments overseas in fisheries, livestock and food production, state-owned Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday, without identifying any countries.

"Saudi Arabia is trying to get companies investing together in rice farms in Thailand, and they are aware that companies here do not want to invest independently," one dealer said.

"We are expecting a decision to be taken before the end of 2008, and most likely this decision will be a yes," he said.

The rising price of staples like rice -- called a "silent tsunami" by the World Food Programme -- has sparked violent protests from Haiti to Somalia, and heightened fears that the world's poor may soon struggle to feed themselves.

Many countries have responded to the high prices by imposing taxes and other restrictions on exports -- allowed under World Trade Organisation rules -- to try to ensure adequate domestic supplies.

TASTE CHANGE

The population of the desert kingdom, the world's largest oil exporter, could more than double to 53 million within about 30 years from 25 million now, John Sfakianakis, chief economist at HSBC Holdings Plc Saudi affiliate SABB bank said on Wednesday.

"Saudi Arabia is caught between a rock and a hard place. The government know they have to feed the increasing population, but on the other hand they cannot increase domestic agricultural output because of the country's scarce water supplies," a Saudi rice importer said.

"So sooner or later they will be forced to grow rice and other crops on foreign lands. Many here don't like Thai rice, but if the world is facing food scarcity, then a taste change is the last thing we should worry about."

Inflation is taking the shine off the rapid economic growth experienced by Gulf oil exporters, flush with windfall oil revenues, as food prices soar.

Last month, the government cut import tariffs on food and building materials, after inflation almost doubled in the six months to February.

Since December, Saudi Arabia has introduced cost of living allowances for public sector employees, boosted subsidies on rice, baby milk and other products, and introduced welfare payments.

Reporting by Summer Said, editing by Daniel Magnowski
Gulf newsroom, +971 4 366 4296, summer.said@reuters.com

Bangkok Post Breaking News
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=127591

Aid from Thailand reaches Burma, but not victims
May 10, 2008

Geneva (dpa) - The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said its first trucks had arrived in Burma Saturday from Mae Sot without a problem, carrying 20 tonnes of emergency aid for survivors of the cyclone.

But the Mae Sot area is far from the actual disaster area, and the aid had not reached victims of the storm, nine days ago.

The trucks, with enough emergency material to provide shelter for up to 10,000 people, had crossed over from Thailand at the Friendship Bridge border at Mae Sot. They bore plastic sheets and tents.

"This convoy marks a positive step in an aid effort so far marked by challenges and constraints," said Raymond Hall, UNHCR's Representative in Thailand.

"We hope it opens up a possible corridor to allow more international aid to reach the cyclone victims."

Hall added: "What we are sending in by road is in addition to the supplies we have already procured locally in Yangon and the 100 tons of supplies we started airlifting today from Dubai."

UNHCR has also started airlifting 100 tons of shelter supplies, including 4,500 plastic sheets and 17,000 blankets, from its Dubai stockpile to Yangon early Saturday.

The first 33 tons left on a World Food Programme aircraft with two other flights scheduled for early next week.

The refugee agency is focusing on providing emergency shelter for the cyclone victims in the Irrawaddy delta and parts of Yangon, which were among the worst hit. More than one million people are estimated to have lost their homes after Cyclone Nargis hit last Friday.

UNHCR has already distributed $50,000 worth of shelter items bought locally in the aftermath of the storm.

The lorry convoy is expected to take around two days from the border to Yangon in the south. The supplies, raided by UNHCR from its existing stockpiles normally intended for refugee camps scattered along the Thai-Burmese border, will be distributed by UNHCR staff.

UNHCR negotiated a concession for the border posts to stay open at the weekend to allow the convoys through.

UNHCR launched a $187 million appeal for Burmese Friday which included six million to provide 250,000 cyclone victims with shelter.

In depth: Cyclone Nagris
US Campaign for Burma » News
Cyclone Nargis - Breaking News - The New York Times
Maps: The Aftermath of Cyclone Nargis - The New York Times
Slide Show: Junta Allowing Little Aid After Cyclone - The New York Times
Other links re Cyclone Nagris ...

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/05/08/national/national_30072593.php

FDA warns of cheap and fashionable teeth braces

The Food and Drug Administration has warned that some cheap but fashionable teeth braces popular among youngsters are contaminated with lead, selenium, chromium and arsenic.

If the dangerous substances accumulate in the body, they can cause kidney failure and even death, says Deputy Public Health Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul. He warns that some braces available outside dental clinics and hospitals are made with substandard materials and can cause an accumulation of toxins.

— Orthodontic braces are such a status symbol in Thailand that some young people who don't need them, or whose families can't afford the real thing, buy and proudly wear these potentially dangerous fakes —

Thai farmers urge commerce minister to explain why rice prices fall

BANGKOK, May 7 (TNA) - The Thai Farmers Association (TFA) has urged Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Mingkwan Saengsuwan to explain why local rice prices have declined sharply.

TFA president Prasit Boonchoei said farmers nationwide are now unhappy towards the way Mr. Mingkwan has handled rice market questions in the past, and now, they say, the more he talks, the more confused the farmers became.

Farmers would be more than happy if they could sell paddy rice at between Bt12,000-13,000 per tonne but prices have fallen since the government announced that it would release rice from its warehouses and sell to the retail public as packaged rice at a sales price about 20 per cent below the market price, Mr. Prasit said.

The market mechanism is now twisted, Mr. Prasit said, as rice exporters and millers have slowed buying paddy from farmers, causing prices to fall, he said.

"When rice prices rose the government released announcements regularly but when prices fell not a single government agency issued any statement," Mr. Prasit said. "The Commerce Ministry shouldn't speak on rice prices or its directions because farmers would eventually suffer."

Mr. Prasit suggested that the government should indicate clearly at what price it would buy rice from farmers to keep its stockpile at the same level of 2.1 million tonnes after it has decided to withdraw rice and sell it to the public in packaged rice form.

He said farmers were still not confident that the government would buy rice from them at the average price of Bt13,000 per tonne.

The government should also find ways to assist farmers who planned to organise a rally after millers have offered to buy paddy from them at prices which are too low, he added. (TNA)-E111

MCOT News : Thai farmers urge commerce minister to explain why rice prices fall
http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=4152



Rice prices said to be easing as purchasing slows down

By Petchanet Pratruangkrai
The Nation
Published on May 7, 2008

The price of 100-per-cent white paddy rice appears to have eased after hitting a record high of between Bt13,000 and Bt14,500 per tonne, traders reported.

Due to tight storage capacity and other factors, the prices started to fall by Bt1,500 to Bt2,000 last week as rice millers and exporters delayed their purchases.

However, traders dismissed the likelihood of further big falls as world demand remained strong and supply from other rice-exporting countries was restricted.

As a result of the weaker domestic price, the export price had also eased, down by between US$60 (Bt1,900) and $80 per tonne last week.

According to the Rice Exporters Association, the export price of 100-per-cent white rice was now $854 per tonne, down from $894.

Pramoth Vanichanont of the Thai Rice Millers Association said yesterday millers had delayed their purchases because of overwhelming stocks.

He believed the price would not fall below Bt10,000 a tonne, adding Cyclone Nargis had damaged Burma's rice crop so there would be higher demand on the world market.

Burma earlier expected to ship 500,000 tonnes of rice this year, up from the annual 300,000 tonnes.

Prasit Boonchuey, president of the Thai Rice Farmers Association, said farmers were satisfied with the current price, despite the drop from between Bt14,500 and Bt15,000 to between Bt11,000 and Bt13,000 a tonne for paddy white rice.

However, farmers would suffer if the price falls below Bt10,000 a tonne. He pointed out the cost of rice production for farmers had surged significantly this year from Bt5,690 to Bt7,000 a tonne because of the rising costs of fertiliser and pesticides.

To ensure lower prices would not hurt farmers, the association had called on the government to set up a price-guarantee programme to ensure the figure would not fall below Bt10,000 a tonne for paddy rice.

Bangkok's Independent Newspaper
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/05/07/national/national_30072426.php

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F8259015-8BAC-42F0-ADF5-F3F4A5A9526C.htm

WEDNESDAY, MAY 07, 2008
10:37 MECCA TIME, 7:37 GMT

Cyclone smashes Myanmar 'rice bowl'

The destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis also threatens to have devastated Myanmar's agricultural heartland, posing concerns over long-term food shortages across an already desperately poor country.

The Irrawaddy delta region, which bore the brunt of the storm, has long been known as the rice-bowl of Myanmar.

But the features that made it so fertile – its low lying geography and its proximity to water - also made it vulnerable to disaster.

In the wake of the storm UN relief officials have reported distribution networks in the region in tatters and large tracts of rice-growing land still under water. Rice plants generally die if they remain submerged for about four days.

"The cyclone certainly complicates matters," said Paul Risley, a spokesman with the UN's World Food Programme in Bangkok.

"It blew through the critical rice-growing areas of the country and it seems the harvest was only partially completed. This could represent a substantial loss to the country's rice output," he said.

According estimated by the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organization the five states hit hardest by the cyclone on Saturday produce 65 per cent of the country's rice.

The region also is home to 80 per cent of its aquaculture, 50 per cent of its poultry and 40 per cent of its pig production, the FAO said.

With as many as a million people directly affected by the catastrophe, rice shortages and possible accompanying public resentment present a major challenge to the country's military government.

With food shortages and rising prices already triggering riots in poor countries, the cyclone's disruption of the harvest in one of Asia's richest rice-growing areas could also have global implications.

Until last weekend, Myanmar had been expected to export a portion of its rice harvest.

Shortfalls could hit Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other regional neighbours that had been counting on importing Myanmar's rice.

Traders suggest that in the cyclone's wake, world rice prices, already soaring, could be sent higher.

Globally the cost of rice has already nearly tripled since the beginning of the year, busting the budgets of humanitarian agencies that provide emergency food aid to disaster-struck countries.

In depth: Cyclone Nagris
Eyewitness: 'Utter devastation'
Relief work hampered by red tape
Cyclone threatens military's grip
Map: The deadly path of Cyclone Nargis
Satellite photos: Before and after the cyclone
Timeline: Asia's deadliest storms
Video: Toll soars

Thailand drops plan for rice cartel that would have fixed prices

By MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
(05-06) 06:26 PDT BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) --

Thailand is dropping plans to create a Southeast Asian rice cartel that would have fixed the price of the skyrocketing commodity over food security concerns, the country's foreign minister said Tuesday.

The proposal to create an OPEC-like cartel was first floated last week by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to give rice producers greater control over rice prices, which have tripled since December. But the idea was heavily criticized by senators in the Philippines, a major importer, as well as some Thai rice exporters.

"We are not talking about setting up a rice cartel," Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said after a meeting with ambassadors from six rice exporting countries in Asia. "If Thailand sets up a rice cartel and fixes a price, that will make matters worse and worsen food security."

Instead, Noppadon said Thailand proposed holding a meeting on rice in the next month or two that would work with top Asian exporters including India, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Pakistan to improve productivity. He also said exporting countries would discuss sharing of technology, market information and price information.

Noppadon denied that the about face on the cartel had anything to do with concerns about the impact on the Philippines.

"We are sympathetic to all human beings, not just the Filipinos," he said.

Rice prices have tripled this year, with the regional benchmark hitting $1,000 a metric ton for 100 percent Grade B white rice.

The run-up in rice prices has come amid global food inflation, poor weather in some rice-producing nations and demand that has outstripped supply. Some Asian countries, including India and Vietnam, have contributed to the problem by curbing rice exports to guarantee their own supplies.

Supporters say that a rice cartel — tentatively named Organization of Rice Exporting Countries — would ensure farmers benefit from the increasing demand for the staple.

Despite Thailand's reluctance, Cambodia's Information Minister Khieu Kanharith insisted that an association of rice exporting countries could still be useful for avoiding a "price war, which could affect livelihoods of peoples" in the region and beyond.

He said his government will pursue discussion about forming such an association at a meeting of the leaders of five Southeast Asian countries in Vietnam later this year. The five countries — Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar — have formed a sub-regional cooperation forum known as Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy, ACMECS.

Their next meeting is planned to be held in Vietnam in October, Khieu Kanharith said.

But Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Philippine Senate's Committee on Agriculture, has expressed concerns that a small group of producers could control the staple food and price it out of reach for "millions and millions of people."

"It is a bad idea," he said Friday. "It will create an oligopoly and it's against humanity."

Meanwhile, China said it has enough grain to keep food prices steady, amid reports authorities were struggling to prevent the smuggling of rice to overseas markets.

China views basic self-sufficiency in staple grains for its 1.3 billion people to be a national strategic priority, and with grain prices soaring internationally it is moving to ensure domestic supplies and curb exports, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on its Web site.

The comments, published in the form of a question-and-answer session with an unnamed official, emphasized Beijing's ability to keep grain prices stable after four straight years of bumper harvests.

"Our grain supply and demand is basically steady, our reserves are full and we can guarantee the supply and stability of grain prices," the statement said.

It said reserves alone could meet demand for six months. The government is shifting grain from the north to heavily populated southern areas where consumption outstrips production.

Thailand drops plan for rice cartel that would have fixed prices

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/05/06/international/i021303D65.DTL&feed=rss.business

The Edge Daily
April 16, 2008

BANGKOK: Surging global demand caused Thailand to export 66% more rice in the first quarter of 2008 from the same period last year, Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan said on Wednesday.

However, he said the world's number-one rice exporter, whose market share is set to rise due to recent export restrictions imposed by Vietnam and India, would not be raising its overall target for the year of nearly 9 million tonnes.

Mingkwan also reaffirmed that there was no need to release rice from a 2.1 million tonne government stockpile, as another 4.2 million tonnes of milled rice from the country's second annual crop was expected to hit the market this month.

"I'm sure that we will have ample supply for domestic consumption and exports so we don't need to release the stock," he told a news conference.

Between January to March 2008, Thailand exported 3.26 million tonnes, up from 1.96 million tonnes a year earlier, following India and Vietnam's decisions to restrict exports to protect domestic supply.

"That makes us feel confident that we could export up to 9 million, as we aimed earlier," he said.

Thailand exported 9.4 million tonnes of rice in 2007 and expects to sell up to 8.75 million to 9.0 million tonnes in 2008.

With the moves by Vietnam and India, Thailand expects to expand its share of the global rice market to 40% in 2008, from 31% in 2007, Mingkwan said.

Mingkwan said Thailand was looking to work with other rice exporting countries to ensure more price stability, starting with a visit by his Indian counterpart on April 27.

However, traders were sceptical about the success of any talks, given that the "cooperation" has been bandied about as a theme since 2001 without bringing any concrete results.

"In every county, rice is a political commodity that gets leaders into trouble if they make any mistakes. No one wants to take any action that could harm their farmers," said a trader who asked not to be named.

--

International Herald Tribune
April 4, 2008

Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, has no plans to restrict exports of the grain, the country's finance minister said Friday.

"We don't want to abuse or to artificially influence the market," Surapong Suebwonglee said on the sidelines of a conference of Southeast Asian finance ministers in Vietnam. "For the rice market in Thailand we try to follow (the rules of) supply and demand."

There has been speculation in rice markets that Thailand — like neighbors Cambodia and Vietnam — would act to boost its domestic supply of rice. Rice prices on world markets have jumped 50 percent in the past two months and at least doubled since 2004. Experts blame rising fuel and fertilizer expenses as well as crops curtailed by disease, pests and climate change.

There are concerns prices could rise a further 40 percent in coming months. Vietnam said at the end of March that it will cut rice exports by 1 million tons this year as part of the government's efforts to rein in soaring inflation and ensure food security. Cambodia ordered a ban on exports to curb rising prices in its domestic market.

Surapong's comments echo a recent statement by the Thai Commerce Minister that Thailand won't ban rice exports.

--

The Nation
April 19, 2008

"Now, hom mali is the world's most expensive rice. We just sold it at a new record of over US$1,300 per tonne to customers in Hong Kong for May delivery. Singapore, Malaysia and China are also our major customers.

"Looking back some 45 years, a tonne of hom mali rice was just over US$100. Today, we've seen record prices of not only rice, but also crude oil [$120 per barrel], gold [$1,000 per ounce] and other commodities," said Chookiat.

"We're now in the fourth straight month of price upsurge, meaning that prices for all kinds of rice have more than doubled - from $360 to $860 per tonne for white rice and from $620 to $1,300 for fragrant jasmine rice.

--

Bloomberg
April 18, 2008

An average household in India spent 32 percent of its income on food last year compared with 6 percent for a household in the U.S., data from the department show. The figure for Indonesia was 43 percent, and 36 percent for the Philippines.

"Poorer countries tend to suffer more than developed countries," HSBC's Neumann said. "It is the poor who shoulder the biggest burden."

--

Bangkok Post : General news
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/12Apr2008_news22.php

... According to the Meteorological Department, Thailand's annual mean maximum temperature has increased from 32.3C (90.14F) in the 1950s to 32.9C (91.22F) last year.

The department has forecast that during the Songkran week, between April 9-15, the highest recorded temperature will be 39C (102.2F).

The figure is considered moderate for many of us as we have experienced the 40-plus (104-plus F) degree heat several times in the past.

According to the department's records, Thailand's hottest day in the past 55 years stood at 44.5C (112.1F), which was measured on April 27, 1960 in Uttaradit province.

In the old days, people would bathe in the rivers or just relax at tai toon baan, an open space under a Thai-style house. But the most popular way for people to shield themselves from the heat these days is to go to shopping malls or simply turn on the air-conditioners at home.

Various other means also are being used to fight the heat.

If you walk along the banks of the Chao Phraya river or some of the cleaner klongs, you will find that children are still jumping into the waterways to escape from the scorching sun.

Many people may find the hot season an undesirable period, but instead of just complaining about the heat, we should use this torrid moment to think about our lifestyles — how we can adapt ourselves to the hotter weather in an environmentally-friendly manner like our ancestors have done and how we can help stop the world's temperatures from soaring.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Asian states feel rice pinch
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7324596.stm

Asian states feel rice pinch

Friday, 11 April 2008

Asian countries have been struggling to cope as the cost of rice has reached record levels.

The price of the staple crop has risen by as much as 70% during the last year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), with increases accelerating in recent weeks.

Shortages have begun to hit some importing countries.

Factors contributing to the price rise include:

        • Poor harvests resulting from extreme weather

        • A rise in demand in some rice-importing countries,
           where populations and incomes are growing

        • The expectation of further price increases - resulting in hoarding

        • Low stockpiles and a long term lack of agricultural investment

The spike is also part of a general surge in food costs worldwide, so the option of switching to cheaper foods is often not available.

Producers including India, China and Vietnam have restricted exports as they try to protect their stocks and limit inflation.

Importers such as Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Afghanistan have been hit hard.

Prices are expected to remain volatile, though output is likely to grow later this year as farmers in Thailand and Vietnam plant additional crops.


INDIA

India is the second largest rice grower in the world behind China. With rice the staple food for 65% of the country's one billion plus people, much is consumed domestically.

But prices have been soaring - a shopkeeper in Delhi told the BBC that the cost of one variety had increased from 12 rupees (29 US cents) per kilogram to 16 rupees (39 cents) in the last two months.

Rice prices in the capital rose by 20% last year.

The government has announced a total ban on exports of non-basmati rice, in a bit to curb rising food prices, which have helped push inflation to a 13-month high.

The price for basmati rice, meanwhile, has been raised to $1,200 per tonne to discourage exports.

Officials say as yet there is no crisis - India has more than enough reserves to feed its population.

They also say India will honour its commitments to export rice to neighbouring Bangladesh.

But the International Rice Research Institute says that the sustainability of rice farming in India and beyond is threatened by overuse of fertilisers and soil health.

Stocks have come down over the last three years as agricultural growth has failed to match the rest of the economy.

And because of the low purchasing power of India's poor, even a small increase in prices can cause a sharp fall in real incomes.


BANGLADESH

Spiralling rice prices have left the people of Bangladesh facing their worst food shortages since the major famine of 1974.

Over the last year, prices have nearly doubled to about 35 taka (50 cents), while there has been no corresponding increase in wages.

Hundreds of poor families are now surviving on one meal a day, and spending 70-80% of their budget on food. The problem is most acute in urban areas where aid agencies say they are very concerned about infant malnourishment.

Local factors have contributed to the price rise. Bangladesh has been hit by severe flooding twice in the last year and a devastating cyclone in November.

The government is giving rice away to 2.6 million people and supplying some families at discounted prices.

It has had to import four million tonnes of rice from India over the last six months - more than double the usual amount.

But the government's critics say it has made matters worse with an anti-corruption drive that has led to the closure of many unofficial rice supply outlets closed down.


PHILIPPINES

Once self-sufficient in rice, the Philippines is listed by the US Department of Agriculture as the world's top importer of milled rice for 2007, ahead of Nigeria, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

Over the past 20 years or so, the country lost nearly half of its irrigated land to rapid urban development.

Domestic demand has risen as the population has grown, pushing up prices.

With rice stocks low, the government has been negotiating with neighbouring countries to secure imports, signing a deal with Vietnam and working for another one with Thailand.

Fears of public unrest have been growing. Communist guerrillas recently burnt a rice trader's vehicles in the central island of Panay.

President Gloria Arroyo has asked authorities to crack down on hoarders. Officials have said they could be charged with economic sabotage - a crime that carries a life sentence.

There have also been efforts to reduce consumption. Some of the country's fast-food chains are offering half portions of rice at the government's request. The government has also asked the public to save leftover rice.

Troops have been called in to protect deliveries of rice to poor areas, while farmers have reportedly begun guarding their crops.

Some government critics say it has not done enough, and members of the influential May First Labour Movement have been holding small-scale demonstrations in various parts of the country.

But others say the Ms Arroyo has overreacted, creating unnecessary panic.


THAILAND

Thailand has long been the world's largest exporter of rice, well ahead of Vietnam and the US.

It has not yet placed any restrictions on exports, and has denied reports that it is considering taking this step.

However, some rice millers and traders who deal on forward contracts have been suffering, after being caught out by price fluctuations.

Exporters have even complained that they would prefer to have stable prices than high prices.

Some millers have hoarded rice in an attempt to earn higher profits later on, pushing prices higher still as they restrict supply.

The government has released some of its 2.1 million tonnes of stockpiled rice in an attempt to contain inflation.

It has also said it will enforce a rule that exporters set aside at least 500 tonnes of rice to prevent shortages.

Rice prices increased by more than 50% last year and have doubled since the beginning of 2008.

While in some countries rice consumption has risen with prosperity, Thais have been eating a greater variety of foods and less rice as they have become wealthier.


CHINA

Chinese consumers have been have been eating less rice as their income has risen, according to the FAO.

Instead, they have been switching to meat and dairy products.

But the government, highly conscious of social or political tensions caused by food inflation, has moved to protect consumers by restricting exports.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said this week that China has an "abundant" supply of rice to feed its population of more than 1.3 billion.

China had stockpiled about 40-50 million tonnes of rice, he said.

Though China is not one of the top rice exporters, export restrictions can have a big impact on importers including North Korea, which buys rice from China at very low prices as it tries to cope with frequent food shortages.

Though short term supplies are secured, there are concerns that urbanisation and industrial development are putting pressure on farming.


JAPAN

Rice is thought to have been produced for more than 2,500 years in Japan, where it was once seen as so important that it was worshipped as a god.

Instead of importing rice, Japan heavily subsidises its rice farmers, paying them as much as four times the market price and restricting imports.

This policy is defended by a farming community with considerable political weight, and many Japanese agree home-grown rice tastes best.

Food security is seen as politically important and the country keeps a large stockpile of rice - even though it is probably wealthy enough to buy on the international market even if prices continue to rise.

Its scientists are already looking for varieties that will be resistant to higher temperatures caused by climate change.

Japan trades relatively small quantities and has little impact on the international market.

BBC SPECIAL REPORT - Food price crisis

Who says we never had Bhikkhuni clergy?
http://www.bangkokpost.com/blogs/index.php/2008/04/10/who-says-we-never-had-bhikkhuni-clergy?blog=64

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Who says we never had Bhikkhuni clergy?

Posted by Sanitsuda Ekachai , Reader : 677 , 05:30:17

Like most Thais, I believed that there have never been female monks, or Bhikkhuni, in Thailand. How I was wrong!

The person who opened my eyes was Ayya Tathaaloka Bhikkhuni, a Buddhist teacher and abbess of the Dhammadharini Vihara, a temple for female monastics in Fremont, California.

As a scholar on Bhikkhuni history and Vinaya, Ayya Tathaaloka Bhikkhuni has done an extensive research on female ordination in Southeast Asia. So when I wrote in one of my articles that Thailand, unlike Sri Lanka, had never had a Bhikkhuni clergy, she kindly emailed me to tell a different story.

Contrary to mainstream belief, there is much evidence about the Bhikkhuni clergy in old Siam and nearby countries from the 3rd century BC up to modern times, she said.

The oldest document, dating back to the Ashokan period, states that a mission led by Arahanta Theras Sona and Uttara travelled to Suvarnabhumi where they ordained "3,500 men and 1,500 women, establishing the Buddhadhamma".

This important historical journey is recorded in the Pali texts as well as in the ancient Sri Lankan chronicles, which were later translated into Chinese.

The Chinese version, in particular, specifies that the 3,500 noblemen were ordained as Bhikkhu and the 1,500 noblewomen as Bhikkhuni.

Closer to home, this historical Buddhist mission also appears in the old records of Nakhon Si Thammarat, believed by many to be the entry point of Buddhism into our region.

This is exciting information. Powerful information.

You see, the clergy's main argument against female ordination is that we never had Bhikkhuni in Thailand. They also argue that since the Theravada Bhikkhuni lineage has been long extinct, it is impossible to have Bhikkhuni in the Thai Theravada clergy.

No need asking the clergy to ordain women. They insist that a legitimate female ordination, according to the monastic discipline, must be performed both by monks and Bhikkhuni.

The clergy's arguments, however, crumble with historical evidence of the Ashokan Buddhist mission. They not only show that we used to have Bhikkhuni, they also confirm that dual ordination is not necessary where Bhikkhuni does not exist, that monks alone can ordain women to set up the Bhikkhuni clergy.

There's more. There are later ancient texts that make reference  to the existence of  Bhikkhuni in the Lanna and Sukhothai kingdoms. For example, there are old records in Lanna literature about two Bhikkhuni believed to be local women. There are also Sukhothai period evidence of Bhikkhuni who were ordained by monks alone, she said.

The Bhikkhuni Sangha in old Siam came to a halt when the Ayutthaya kingdom rose to power. "The previous Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni Sangha was made to cease to exist for political reasons and a new Bhikkhu Sangha was founded with royal support," said Ayya Tathaaloka Bhikkhuni.

Her message: Don't say Thailand never had a Bhikkhuni clergy. To be precise, say Thailand has never had a Bhikkhuni Sangha, with dual ordination, established and supported by the monarchy, since the founding of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya.

Now we know.

If facts cannot dismantle the prejudice against female ordination, what can?

Read comment

Comment 1
BENG LOW date : 18/04/2008 time : 03:28

Hi Sanitsuda

Excellent!

If Buddhism cannot rise above historical precedent to meet the needs of society, then it will sooner or later fall prey to the truth of impermanence.

beng

Please add comments to the original post at the Bangkok Post web site

Ayya Tathaaloka Bhikkhuni
http://www.dhammadharini.org/
http://www.myspace.com/ayyatathaalokabhikkhuni
http://www.tipitaka.net/community/news.php?page=060528c
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,4899,0,0,1,0

Bangkok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/30Mar2008_news01.php

Rice Prices Soaring
but farmers find little to smile about

Piyaporn Wongruang

Golden stems of rice growing across paddies in the country's rice bowl are supposed to make the field's owners smile with pride. But the smiles have been wiped off the faces of farmers in the central region of Thailand due to fears that thieves might sneak into their fields at night and steal their precious assets. Since the middle of the month, rumours that rice has been stolen around the area spread across the fields in provinces from Lop Buri to Sing Buri and Ang Thong, where farmers like Sunthorn Pumkanklao, Bamrung Rodruedee and Somnuek Meechana have lived and grown rice for more than 20 years. The rumours have yet to be confirmed, but the talk already has farmers living in fear and has prompted them to stay out at night to keep an eye out for anything suspicious near their rice fields. They have to protect their rice crops at all costs.

"I'm so scared now that thieves will steal my rice. If they really do that, it is like they are killing me because everything in my life - my money, my efforts and my hopes - have been put into it," said Mr Somnuek, who grows rice on about 80 rai of land. It is almost fully blossomed now and about to be harvested. Mr Sunthorn said the farmers in his area are not allowed to carry sharp weapons unless they are authorised to by village headmen. As a result, the best they can carry is sticks and mobile phones.

"I'm not really sure that if I really encountered thieves I would be able to press the button. They would not come alone, for sure," he said. He also accompanies his neighbours like Mr Somnuek and Mr Bamrung to take care of their rice crops, which have been left to grow in the fields. A few days ago Mr Somnuek and his wife received a phone call from their daughter in Bangkok, who heard the news about thieves being rampant in the rice fields. She urged her mother to accompany her father at night. As a result, the couple stay awake and stay in the dark in their rice fields together.

The rumours are about as unprecedented as the soaring price of rice in the markets. According to recent records of the Agricultural Economics Office under the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry, the local price of the best rice, Hom Dok Mali, rose from about 9,600 baht a tonne in December last year to 10,067 baht in January. The price of raw rice, which farmers usually immediately sell to traders, has also skyrocketed from 6,900 baht in January to between 9,000 and 10,500 baht in several local rice trading areas.

The soaring prices have significant implications for the country as well as for farmers. For more than 20 years Thailand has been the world's number one rice exporter. Thailand has been able to generate income from selling rice abroad of up to 80 billion to 100 billion baht a year, according to the Thai Rice Strategy from 2007 to 2011 report, produced under the supervision of the National Rice Policy Board, by the Rice Department, last year.

Last year, Thailand was able to export 9.20 million tonnes of rice, bringing in income worth about 119 billion baht. Increasing demand and the price of rice in the market therefore contributes further to the country's income, and farmer incomes. The increasing price of rice results from increasing global demand due to a shortage of supplies in some regions, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Bangladesh and new demands from other countries such as Japan.

The increased demand and the price of rice in the market is a golden opportunity that Thai farmers must take advantage of. Mr Sunthorn said he has never seen such a high price for rice before. It is the first time he can also see profits after deducing production costs, he said. At one rice trading spot in Ang Thong, Sali Ngernpan, 68, rides on a rice truck to sell her rice which was harvested from a five-rai farm in Viset Chaichan district. The rice trader gave her 10,350 baht a tonne for her rice. After deducting the weight of the truck, she gets only about 34,000 baht.

"Grandma" Sali looks at the money, smiling. "Money? I will pay back my debts. I owe about 30,000 baht," she said, echoing Mr Sunthorn's remark that being a farmer is not easy. Very few understand the high price farmers pay for living their lives in paddy fields.

Almost all the farmers here in the central provinces have a narrow chance of seeing some profits from their investments. Besides not being able to determine the price of rice in the market, they have to shoulder the heavy production costs. Some farmers even start their seasons with heavy debts. Mr Sunthorn said a lot of farmers do not own land. They have to pay rent, which is likely to rise along with the rising price of rice. As well as rent for the farmland, they have to pay for seeds, fertiliser, pesticide, farm labour and transport to move their rice to the trading areas.

Most farmers believe all these rising costs are due to the soaring price of oil. Their production costs soon pile up and become part of the farmers' debts once the price of rice falls below these costs, or the farmers' rice is destroyed by natural disasters like floods and drought. According to the Thai Farmers Association, farmers now shoulder rice production costs for both rain-fed crops and off-seasonal crops of between 5,000 to 6,000 baht. These are likely to increase. The price of a pack of fertiliser has also risen, from about 500 baht to 1,000 baht at the moment, said Vichian Phuanglamjiak, a co-founder of the association.

The Agricultural Economics Office records show that with such investment costs, farmers will earn a narrow profit margin of about 340 baht per rai for rain-fed crops and 970 baht per rai for off-season crops. Mr Vichian said now farmers cannot earn anything if they cannot produce up to 600 kilogrammes of rice per rai. One rai of farmland will normally yield at best 1,000 kilogrammes of rice in a good year. Mr Vichian said the unstable rice price and high production costs have long been a concern for farmers, but these problems have never been properly addressed or solved by any governments. [1 rai = 1600 sq. meters or 0.395 acre]

He said he is now very worried that if farmers rush to grow rice following the soaring prices, they will later be hard pressed by rice traders and offered low prices for their rice. Some farmers are now rushing to grow a second crop, despite limited water supplies from the Royal Irrigation Department, which has to share water with other sectors.

Bangkok Post : General news
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/28Mar2008_news01.php

Thailand braces for rice crisis
Soaring exports may cause local shortage


BANGKOK POST and AGENCIES


Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, could face a shortage of rice after skyrocketing prices have encouraged traders to substantially increase their export volumes, Prasert Kosalwit, the director-general of the Rice Department, said yesterday.

Concerns over shortages could lead to the introduction of measures to control the amount of rice exported in the second half of this year if the price continues to increase. The measures have been floated by Deputy Commerce Minister Wiroon Techapaiboon.

Fears of a shortage come against a backdrop of signs of rice shortages in some countries, including the Philippines and neighbouring Cambodia.

The Cambodian government yesterday appealed for people to remain calm and not to stock up on food commodities after the government banned rice exports on Wednesday.

The Philippines rushed to sign a purchase agreement with Vietnam for 1.5 million tonnes of rice this year to alleviate an expected shortage in coming months. The agreement came one day after the government announced the country was facing a serious rice supply crisis.

India has banned the export of rice to other countries, while China and Vietnam have already reduced export volumes.

''A rice shortage in the local market is very likely,'' warned Mr Prasert.

His comment was supported by rice export volumes which were more than one million tonnes a month from October last year to February this year.

The stockpile under the supervision of the Commerce Ministry is 2.1 million tonnes. That could ease domestic rice shortages for about three months, said Mr Prasert.

In case the rice stocks are used up and the rice shortage gets worse, the Rice Department will encourage farmers to grow a mixed breed paddy with a high average yield per rai of 1,200kg. The growing period for the mixed breed paddy is only 110 days.

Rice Exporters Association president Chookiat Ophaswongse admitted that the rice price and global demand would rise further from the second quarter of this year.

This is because Iran and Indonesia, which are regular customers, have not yet placed their orders for this year, he said. The two countries are expected to do so in the middle of this year.

Iran is likely to order at least one million tonnes and Indonesia more than 1.5 million tonnes. This has prompted rice millers and farmers to hoard rice for future speculation as well, said Mr Chookiat.

But Mr Chookiat said he is confident the government rice stockpile of 2.1 million tonnes would be enough to prevent a rice shortage for three to four months until paddy from the new season is harvested.

He said the main shortage would come from the race to export rice to other countries.

Thailand could face problems only when it exports more than nine million tonnes a year, he said. Over the past five months, the country sold more than one million tonnes a month to other countries. If this export volume continues, a shortage is possible, he added.

Mr Chookiat supported measures to stamp out excessive exports, suggesting that the government prepare to put in place a minimum export price system, which has been in use in India.

''If the rising rice price continues, the measure may be needed in the second half of this year,'' he said.

Under the measure, the government requires exporters to sell rice at determined prices which are higher than the market price to slow exports.

Bangkok Post : General news
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/17Mar2008_news25.php

Farmers feel pinch from drought

Farmers in the North and Northeast are beginning to feel the pinch from this year's drought, which has already ravaged tens of thousands of rai of farmland.

A looming crisis prompted Deputy Interior Minister Sitthichai Kowsurat to inspect affected areas in Ubon Ratchathani, Si Sa Ket and Amnat Charoen provinces yesterday.

Ubon Ratchathani's deputy provincial governor Pramote Sajjarak told the deputy minister that almost 1,400 villages in the province were facing water shortages and that the water level in rivers and natural water sources was alarmingly low.

However, water levels in the Chi river, a major source of water for the Northeast, was still at a normal level for this time of year, he said.

Mr Sitthichai instructed provincial governors to set up drought-relief centres in every province and make sure that each province's 50-million-baht emergency fund was spent appropriately to help drought-affected people.

Eleven out of 17 districts in Surin have been declared disaster areas. The water crisis has reportedly affected 20,000 households and destroyed crops across over 4,500 rai of farmland, causing around 1.8 million baht in damage.

The province's famous "elephant village" in Tha Tum district has also been badly hit by the drought, raising concerns over the health of animals.

In Uttaradit province four districts have been declared disaster zones where some 30,000 rai of agricultural land has already been damaged.

Apiwat Kunarak, chief of the northern region environmental protection office, said northern residents would not only be hit by water shortages, but also possible forest fires and air pollution.

Widespread forest fires would increase the level of small dust particles in the air that could be harmful to residents.

"It is important that locals avoid slash-and-burn cultivation and other burning activities," he said.

The Meteorological Department, however, predicted that this year's drought will not be as serious as last year.

The dry season is expected to end in the first week of May when farmers and villagers hope the rain will return.

The Nation
http://nationmultimedia.com/2007/08/21/national/national_30045838.php

Published on August 21, 2007

English tutors failing the test

Just one in 10 can score more than 60 per cent

Training is needed urgently to improve the standard of English teaching in Thailand, senior government and private educationalists said after seeing the "highly unimpressive scores" in a recent test of English-language teachers.

Of the 14,189 teachers in 30 tourism-oriented provinces who took the test, 74.59 per cent scored less than 41 marks out of a possible 100, according to an Office of Basic Education Commission (OBEC) report.

Only 9.94 per cent of the teachers scored between 60 and 100 marks, while 15.47 per cent managed to score between 42 and 60 marks.

The lowest score earned in the test - which allotted 30 marks for listening ability, 30 marks for reading, 20 marks for writing and 20 marks for speaking - was two.

Among the 30 provinces from where the teachers who took the test came were Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Sukhothai and Chon Buri.

The test was conducted jointly by OBEC and Ramkhamhaeng University as a follow-up to a previous one conducted four years ago in which 90 per cent of English-language teachers also did poorly.

The OBEC report described English teaching in Thailand currently as a "failure", and cited the lack of direct education in teaching English for local teachers as the main reason.

Asst Prof Chaleosri Phiboolchol, chairperson of the English-language Teachers' Association of Thailand, said most of the approximately 500,000 English teachers in government and private schools at primary and secondary level "were made to do their jobs" without basic qualifications or proper training.

She suggested giving scholarships and providing training and rewarding outstanding teachers as solutions to encourage self-development among English teachers.

Assoc Prof Suchada Nimmannit, a lecturer with Chulalongkorn University's Language Institute, said the Education Ministry had failed to substantially improve English teachers.

"Training every few years for teachers is not enough to develop them academically," she added.

She said that if sending Thai English-language teachers to countries with native English speakers and highly professional training was too expensive, exchange programmes among Southeast Asian countries would be good enough to expose them to new experiences and prompt them to adjust to all-English environments.

Akkhara Akkharanithi, a lecturer at the Language Institute, said the teaching of English should also be improved at kindergarten level, where all the teachers are too burdened with full-time tasks to improve their English teaching.

She suggested that all government English teachers who worked for more than five years should be allowed to study English overseas on their own funds, while more scholarships should be made available to those who proved to be outstanding English teachers.

Thammarat Kijchalong

The Nation

International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=4698260

Bangkok's template for an air-quality turnaround
By Thomas Fuller
Friday, February 23, 2007


BANGKOK: Black smoke billowing from tailpipes into the humid, tropical air was once a Bangkok trademark. But a decade and a half after Thailand began a battle for better air quality, this erstwhile icon of smog has emerged as a role model for Asia's pollution-choked capitals, boasting considerably cleaner air than Beijing, Jakarta, New Delhi and Shanghai.

Some buses here still belch toxic vapor. And Thailand's political future is hard to plot as the country seeks to extricate itself from the tangled legacy of the military-led coup last September. Yet the skies in Bangkok on most days are blue, thanks to the work of a small, dedicated group of bureaucrats who pressed the case for cleaner air despite a history of weak, short-lived governments.

"There's a huge difference when you walk around the streets," said Jitendra Shah, a coordinator at the World Bank for environment and social issues in Southeast Asia who has worked in Bangkok since the 1990s. "Breathing is definitely easier."

Thailand's battle against air pollution provides a virtual how-to manual of environmental cleanup, say Shah and other air quality experts in Asia. Thai officials cajoled oil companies to produce cleaner fuel, used higher taxes to phase out the once-ubiquitous two- stroke motorcycles and converted all taxis to run on clean-burning liquefied petroleum gas. They overcame lobbying campaigns from the large, mostly Japanese-owned car industry and imposed progressively stricter emissions controls based on European norms (Thailand had no emissions standards before 1992).

The local government enacted simple but highly effective measures like washing the streets to keep the dust down. Buddhist crematoria in and around the city were urged to change from wood-burning pyres to more sophisticated electric incinerators.

The striking result is that, while the number of motor vehicles registered in Bangkok has increased by 40 percent over the past decade, the average levels of the most dangerous types of pollution — small dust particles that embed themselves in the lungs — have been cut by 47 percent, from 81 to 43 micrograms per cubic meter during the same period. Bangkok's air, on average, now falls within the limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of 50 micrograms per cubic meter, but is above the European Union limit of 40.

"It's possible for others to follow what we've done here," said Supat Wangwongwatana, director general of the pollution control department at Thailand's Ministry of Environment.

It's a line that Supat has used often in recent years. The World Bank and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have dispatched him to countries around the region, including India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, to speak in antipollution workshops.

Four decades ago Thailand did not even have a word for pollution — there was barely use for it in a city with many fewer cars. It was only in 1976 that the country's Royal Institute, the official arbiter of the Thai language, coined the word "mollapit." The word means "poison or toxins that come from impurity or dirtiness," according to Naiyana Wara-aswapati, a senior linguist at the institute.

Yet giving pollution a name was far easier than cleansing the air. And as pedestrians in Bangkok can attest, some of the poison still lingers. The city still has nagging air quality problems especially — and paradoxically — in neighborhoods served by the city's relatively new mass transit system, which was supposed to help ease pollution by allowing commuters to leave their cars at home.

Pollution gets trapped underneath the concrete platforms of the elevated railway and can rise to levels that rival the most polluted cities in Asia: 85 to 180 micrograms per cubic meter of dust particles — many times higher than the World Health Organization's guidelines of 20 micrograms per cubic meter.

"No matter how much cleaner the gasoline becomes it stills stinks," said Chainarong Nobnobe, a traffic police officer working in one of the most congested areas of Bangkok. "There should be measures to limit the number of cars."

Greater Bangkok, with a population of about 10 million, has not yet achieved the air quality of Singapore or Tokyo. These latter cities have on average the cleanest air of major Asian capitals — air quality roughly equivalent to New York City's. But what Bangkok has shown is that you do not need to have Singapore's authoritarian legacy or Tokyo's riches to make radical improvements to the environment.

Thailand has also demonstrated that a thriving car industry is not incompatible with cleaner air, said Shah of the World Bank. Thailand, which will produce about 1.28 million cars and trucks and 3.5 million motorcycles this year, is Asia's third-largest exporter of vehicles, after Japan and Korea.

Part of Bangkok's success in cleaning its air is due to luck and geography. Unlike Los Angeles, Bangkok has no surrounding mountains to trap smog. Unlike Beijing, which has some of the worst air in East Asia, power plants around Bangkok do not use coal. Thailand gets natural gas from neighboring Myanmar and its own platforms in the Gulf of Thailand; 70 percent of the country's power production is from natural gas, which burns more cleanly than coal.

Most of the credit for the cleaner air, however, goes to a group of strong- willed environmental pioneers, said Nuntavarn Vichit-Vadakan, dean of the Faculty of Public Health at Thammasat University. Technocrats, often trained in the United States, convinced politicians of the need for action, Nuntavarn said.

They faced considerable resistance. Supat, the director of the pollution control department, helped usher in Thailand's first laws on tailpipe emissions, based mainly on European standards. In the early 1990s he traveled to Japan with Kasem Sanitwong Na Ayutthaya, the current environment minister, to persuade Japanese automakers to make and sell cleaner cars in Thailand.

Bhichit Rattakul, a U.S.-trained microbiologist, created the Anti-Air Pollution & Environmental Protection Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group, in 1986, well before going green was trendy. Elected Bangkok governor in 1996, he planted 400,000 trees, cracked down on polluting trucks and established stricter rules for dusty construction sites.

When Bhichit announced that the local government would transform an 18-hole golf course incongruously located on the outskirts of Bangkok into a giant park, he famously faced off with hundreds of protesting golf caddies who barricaded themselves on the grounds of the club and threw golf balls and bricks at officials who tried to dislodge them. (Police ultimately dispersed the caddies and the area is today a public park as planned.)

Piyasvasti Amranand, a former secretary general of Thailand's National Energy Policy Office, in 1991 established the country's first comprehensive plan to remove lead, sulfur and other harmful chemicals from fuel. Piyasvasti, who is now energy minister, says he encountered strong resistance from Western oil companies and Japanese car manufacturers; he recalled long debates over the proposed introduction of catalytic converters, the device that neutralizes harmful chemicals before they are emitted from tailpipes.

At the time, Bangkok's air was laden with dust, lead and other harmful chemicals. In 1993, 28 percent of children tested at six Bangkok schools had lead concentrations higher than the acceptable threshold set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control: 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood. Traffic policemen and bus drivers also showed high lead levels but in children it was considered most harmful because lead has been shown to retard mental development.

After Thailand completely phased out lead gasoline 1995 (a year before the United States although the U.S. had started its gradual reduction program in 1973, well before Thailand) lead levels plummeted in Bangkok. By 2000 only 3 percent of children at the same schools in Bangkok were above the threshold.

In the West as in Thailand leaded gasoline seems like ancient history. Yet one measure of Thailand's head-start is that in Indonesia refineries stopped producing leaded gasoline only last year.

In the early 1990s Supat used data on the high lead levels in schoolchildren to convince the owner's of Thailand's major oil refineries, motorcycle and car manufacturers – and the public – that something needed to be done.

Although public concern about pollution was rising, Supat said many Thais were also worried that better fuel and more efficient engines would cost more money. Supat responded by saying that the black smoke coming out of vehicles was unburnt fuel. "We're wasting a lot of fuel out of the tailpipe," he remembers repeating.

In the end it was consumers, not industry, that paid for the higher quality fuel and tighter emissions controls on cars. The government altered the tax structure to make unleaded gasoline cheaper even though it was more expensive to produce than leaded fuel. This was achieved by sleight of hand: Officials avoided a loss of revenue for the government by quietly raising a levy on gasoline several months before the introduction of unleaded fuel, channeling the extra proceeds into a special oil fund, and then lowering the levy only for unleaded fuel.

"That is the pattern we've been using all along: increasing the oil fund without people noticing. Slip it in," Piyasvasti said.

Piyasvasti used the same tactic last October, raising the oil levy in preparation for greater incentives for biodiesel (diesel mixed with locally produced palm oil) and gasohol (gasoline mixed with ethanol made from locally produced sugar cane and tapioca). These fuels, which have been available in small quantities since 2004, burn more cleanly and help Thailand reduce its oil and energy imports, which today stand at around 60 percent of energy consumption. The government hopes that once taxes are lowered consumers will be drawn in greater numbers to these fuels.

"The general public likes lower prices. That's the most important thing," Piyasvasti said.

On the streets of Bangkok, residents give the city's fight against pollution mixed reviews.

Suwanna Jusing, 50, the owner of a roadside restaurant in northern Bangkok, said pollution had improved during the three decades she had been selling her chicken, pork and shrimp noodle dishes to customers at roadside tables. The authorities are trying to make Bangkok "a better place to live," she said. "And that makes me happy."

Pacharapun Tinnabal, 25, a graduate student who recently returned after living three years in Jakarta, said she was relieved to return home because the air in the Indonesian capital is "far more polluted."

But others, such as Thongpoon Nawiman, a 41-year-old motorcycle messenger who spends five days a week wending through Bangkok's wide boulevards and tiny alleys, is not satisfied. "The air is still polluted, and the traffic is still bad," he said.

Bhichit, the former Bangkok governor, agrees that there's lots of room for improvement.

"I'm still not a happy man," he said. "I'm trying to demand more."

After his 4-year term as governor, which ended in 2000, Bhichit returned to a career of environmental activism, and reinvigorating his anti-air pollution foundation.

Hundreds of volunteers filmed and photographed buses spewing black smoke, evidence that Bhichit used in a lawsuit against the city's transit authority. Last year he won a partial victory to retire some decrepit, polluting buses, but the transit authority is appealing the decision.

"They should revoke the licenses of these people," Bhichit said. He blames Supat at the pollution control department for not cracking down hard enough.

It will be years before all of the ancient buses and two-stroke motorcycles hit the scrap heap. But as they slowly fade away, Bangkok's air will improve even more, say experts. Close to 100 percent of motorcycle sold in Thailand today have 4-stroke engines, an almost total reversal from a decade earlier. Supat is also trying to convince drivers of Bangkok's 9,000 iconic but heavily polluting three-wheeled "tuk-tuks" to change over to 4-stroke engines.

In November the government approved the construction of five new or extended light-rail lines, scheduled for completion in 2012. The city is also planning a "Bus Rapid Transport" system, a network of dedicated bus lanes separated from traffic.

The car will remain king in Bangkok for years, but government officials say they hope residents will leave them at home most days.

"There's no problem to own a car but don't use it that much," Supat said.