ID :
180197
Thu, 05/05/2011 - 14:36
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/180197
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Thai laborers to return to farming from high living costs
BANGKOK, May 5 (TNA) - Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, secretary-general of the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board, said that the office had studied the return of labourers to the agricultural sector and their savings, as ordered by the prime minister and found that last year as many as 91.48% of the labourers who returned to their native areas turned to agriculture.
The highest proportion of the labourers who returned to their native areas was from the Northeast. Their proportion was 65.98% while the figures were 14.36% in the Central Plain, 12.41% in the North and 7.24% in the South. All the labourers could not afford the high cost of living in urban areas. The rising prices of agricultural products and the government’s policy to insure produce prices also prompted them to return home.
However, the produce price insurance scheme of the government did not cause northeastern labourers to return home. They moved due to their cultivation seasons. Economic problems have increased layoffs and labourers are moving from industries to agriculture. The numbers of workers returning to agriculture in their home provinces stood at over 300,000 in 2009 and at 491,774 in 2008.
“The return to agriculture resulted from many factors namely the higher cost of living in urban areas, layoffs due to an economic crisis, the seasonal movements of labour, the produce price insurance project and the rising prices of agricultural products,” Mr Arkhom said.
The study also found increasing savings and investments in the agricultural sector. As the prices of agricultural products have risen since 2008, farmers’ savings with the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) have reached 31.24 billion baht. (TNA)
The highest proportion of the labourers who returned to their native areas was from the Northeast. Their proportion was 65.98% while the figures were 14.36% in the Central Plain, 12.41% in the North and 7.24% in the South. All the labourers could not afford the high cost of living in urban areas. The rising prices of agricultural products and the government’s policy to insure produce prices also prompted them to return home.
However, the produce price insurance scheme of the government did not cause northeastern labourers to return home. They moved due to their cultivation seasons. Economic problems have increased layoffs and labourers are moving from industries to agriculture. The numbers of workers returning to agriculture in their home provinces stood at over 300,000 in 2009 and at 491,774 in 2008.
“The return to agriculture resulted from many factors namely the higher cost of living in urban areas, layoffs due to an economic crisis, the seasonal movements of labour, the produce price insurance project and the rising prices of agricultural products,” Mr Arkhom said.
The study also found increasing savings and investments in the agricultural sector. As the prices of agricultural products have risen since 2008, farmers’ savings with the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) have reached 31.24 billion baht. (TNA)
