Free rice harvesting offered to farmers

KHON KAEN, Nov 5 (TNA) - Reserve officer students in Thailand’s northeastern Khon Kaen province have offered free rice harvesting for farmers to save their costs as prices of rice paddy continue to drop this year causing catastrophic losses to farmers. About 50 reserve officer students from the 23rd Military Circle Headquarters helped reap the rice at a paddy field in Khon Kaen’s Sila Sub-district. Mrs Prapai Srisophon, 53, farmer, said she was suffering big losses this year due to the low prices of rice paddy offered by rice mills. She is very glad the army came in to help with the harvest which could save her significant cost; otherwise she would need to spend 300 baht a day per person for hired labourers or 600-700 baht per rai (0.367 acre) for a mechanic harvesting truck. The 23rd MCH Leader Col Rangsan Tansitthiphaet said the service is in response to the government’s policy which aims for all sectors to put efforts to help rice farmers survive the low prices of paddy this year by shouldering costs and buying rice directly from the farmers. Interested farmers can request for the service directly at the MCH, he added. (TNA)