Rice farmer accuses Bangkok authorities of flooding his field

A rice farmer accused the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) of releasing water into his field. The farmer, Dacha Nutalai, is the vice president of the Bangkok Agriculturalist Association.

Dacha made a video of his rice field in Nong Chok district on Friday, showing viewers that the water in the field was up to his waist. The angry farmer said that he had been preparing to harvest his crop, and the situation was even worse than the flooding in 2011.

Dacha demanded that the BMA come up with a better solution since the flooding had stopped him from harvesting his rice. He said that Nong Chok had been hit by heavy rain, but the BMA had made it even worse by releasing water into his farm.

Thailand’s ferocious rains have been impacting farmers recently. On September 8, about 140,000 chickens drowned in a flood at a poultry farm in the Kwaeng district, in the eastern Rayong province. All six houses at the poultry farm flooded, with the water level reaching higher than one metre in some parts. Damages are estimated to be about ten million baht.

On September 7, the Thai Cabinet approved a budget of almost 1.6 billion to deal with Thailand’s perpetual flood problems. Some 912 million baht has been set aside for water management during the rainy and drought seasons, while 664 million baht has been allocated for new water pumps.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand