Thai corn farmers threaten to intensify protest

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND, September 30 (TNA) - Thai corn farmers have continued their rally in the northern Chiang Mai Province, threatening to intensify their protest against falling prices of their produce if there was no clear official assistance by October 1, 2013. The demonstrators have gathered in front of the Chiang Mai Provincial Hall for the second consecutive day amid tight security provided by local police. The protesters have demanded that the Thai government urgently help solve the problem, claiming that the administration has failed to respond to their written complaints for three times. Uthai Boontiem, chairman of Mae Jaem's corn growers network in Chiang Mai, told reporters that his network sent representatives to meet Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in Bangkok on Monday, asking her Cabinet to consider assistance measures for the local corn farmers’ at its weekly meeting on Tuesday. Uthai vowed that local corn farmers in Chiang Mai and other northern Thai provinces would escalate their protest if there was no progress regarding the government's clear assistance after Tuesday's Cabinet meeting. There are now nearly 8,000 registered corn farmers in Mae Jaem alone, producing over 950,000 tonnes of corn, mostly for animal feed, on a total of more than 132,616 rais, or 53,000 acres, of plantations. (TNA)