BANGKOK, Nov 21 (TNA) — Farmers planned to wear black clothes and rally at Government House on Nov 28 to oppose the government’s policy to ban three farm chemicals.
Sukan Sangwanna, secretary-general of the Federation of Safe Agriculture, said the farmers who were affected by the ban of paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos would stage the rally to ask Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to find a way out before the ban takes effect on Dec 1.
“Farmers try every means to tell the government that we are in trouble,” he said.
He said Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chalermchai Sri-on met his group and promised to discuss the matter on Nov 28. Affected farmers would then ask if the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry prepared any solutions to the problems that would result from the ban.
Meanwhile, Veerawut Katanyukul, president of the Thai Agro Business Association, said although Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Mananya Thaiset planned to allow operators to send the three chemicals back to their countries of origin or sell them to third-party countries, operators could not meet the Dec 1 deadline because they had more than 20,000 tons of the three chemicals. (TNA)