Thai university introduces ‘rice for fees’ scheme as farmers struggle with plummeting grain prices
Over the past decade, northern farming heartlands voted for political leaders the generals ended up ousting
A private university in Thailand has begun accepting rice in payment for tuition fees as the nation struggles under a grain glut that’s hurting farm incomes.
Students enrolled at Rangsit University in Bangkok’s northern suburbs can pay all or part of next semester’s costs with rice, said Worachat Churdchomjan, a dean who helped set up the programme. The goal is to help farming families, and the university will put a higher-than-market value on the grain since prices for some strains are near a decade low, according to Worachat.
The university has a policy to support farmers to reduce their expenses, as they are the backbone of the country
The university’s step is part of wider efforts to help the 16 million Thais who depend on rice farming but are struggling to cover costs because of oversupply at home and in export markets. While Thailand’s military rulers have unveiled more than US$2 billion of support to ease agrarian hardship, farmers are also resorting to everything from sales via Facebook to using stalls at gas stations.
The state’s current rice stockpiles in Thailand are about 8 million metric tonnes – equivalent to roughly 20 per cent of projected global trade of 40.6 million tonnes, based on Thai government and US Department of Agriculture data.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy exports about half its annual output. Production is poised to climb in the current season through September 2017 for the first time in five years, adding to a global glut.
Witsanu Sukmoonsiri, a 22-year-old studying at the university’s social innovation school, is one of 19 students using the rice-for-fees programme.
“My parents might have had to go to a loan shark otherwise,” said Witsanu, who plans to pay the 20,620 baht (US$574) fee for the January-April semester with rice from his family’s farm.