Protesters give ultimatum

Rubber farmers in the South have threatened to step up their protests if their demands are not met in seven days.

The growers want the government to give a guaranteed price for unsmoked rubber sheets of 100 baht per kilogramme. They also want the government to stop pursuing legal action against them, and have demanded the Nakhon Si Thammarat governor lift a disaster prevention and mitigation law imposed where the rallies are taking place.

The protesters said they would begin escalating their protests in Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Bang Saphan district if the demands are not met.

The demands were made at a meeting of the association of rubber and oil palm farmers’ networks in 16 southern provinces, held yesterday at Huay Prik temple in Chawang district of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Rubber growers in tambon Kam Lon of Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Lan Saka district, meanwhile, want the government to revise a rubber subsidy plan in which only farmers with title deeds to their rubber growing land are eligible to receive help of 2,520 baht per rai.

The farmers said it was unfair to exclude them from the subsidy scheme because they were also required to pay the levy paid into the rubber fund when they sold their rubber. They inherited the land from their ancestors, even though they lacked title deeds in some cases, Kochaporn Naosuwan, 42, said.