Rotten crops in govt warehouses to be burned
Casava & corn in govt warehouses since 2008 rotten or reduced to powder. Power generation may still be possible but animal feed not.
Casava & corn in govt warehouses since 2008 rotten or reduced to powder. Power generation may still be possible but animal feed not.
AGRICULTURE
Rotten crops in govt warehouses to be burned
30/05/2016
Phusadee Arunmas
The Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO) will seek the Commerce Ministry's approval to burn rotten tapioca and corn kept under state pledging schemes, to reduce storage expense.
WHAT ARE PLEDGING SCHEMES?
In "state pledging schemes" the government effectively buys crops from farmers ensuring farmers a high or at least reasonable price for the crops they grow.
The crops bought by the government are then stored for future sale but sometimes the crops rot or degrade in quality over time and have to be sold at a reduced price or simply be destroyed, as is the case in this article.
Sometimes crop pledging schemes have resulted in prices high above the market price and a big subsidy from the government to farmers when the crops bought from the farmer can't be sold at the price the government bought them at.
The most famous pledging scheme of them all was former PM Yingluck's rice pledging scheme that sought to buy virtually all rice produced in Thailand at prices far above the going market price.
Plenty of tapioca and corn is consumed or exported, but excess crops purchased at controlled prices since 2008 have been left to rot in government warehouses. (Photo courtesy Berkeley International)
PROPOSAL TO BURN OLD ROTTEN CROPS
The proposal to burn old rotten crops involves 31,400 tonnes of tapioca (also known as cassava and manioc) in the 2008-09 pledging scheme, 99,000 tonnes in the 2011-12 programme, and 250,000 tonnes in the 2012-13 scheme.
The 2008-09 programme was initiated by the Somchai Wongsawat government, while the 2011-12 and 2012-13 schemes were driven by the Yingluck Shinawatra administration.
Most of the stored tapioca can reportedly no longer be consumed or even used as animal feed.
It needs to be incinerated to save storage costs, which currently stand at 11 million baht a month.
The 2008-09 stock will be prioritised for burning as it has reportedly disintegrated into powder.
The burning cost is not known. Approval is needed from the commerce minister and the tapioca policy and management committee first before the burning process can be studied in detail.
ENERGY PRODUCTION WITH CROPS POSSIBLE
The PWO board chairman said portions of stock under the 2011-12 and 2012-13 schemes can still be used to produce energy, citing Energy Ministry advice.
The Department of Industrial Works is searching for such power plants.
COMPLAINTS AGAINST WAREHOUSES & SURVEYORS
The PWO has filed 22 police complaints against warehouses and surveyors over the 2008-09 pledging programme.
Some batches of tapioca went missing and others degraded in quality during storage.
In total, 11 complaints were lodged under the 2011-12 scheme and 54 more under the 2012-13 programme.
Altogether, 94,000 tonnes of corn (also called maize) under the 2008-09 pledging scheme was found to have rotted. Approval is also needed to burn it.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/993809/approval-sought-to-burn-perished-crops
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