Eight tonnes of rice sold in 3 hours through co-op initiative

KRABI: Eight tonnes of jasmine rice from Sisaket Province sold out in just three hours in Krabi yesterday in a government-led initiative to supply rice at a reduced price directly from farmers to consumers.

The 2pm sell-off of rice stocks was jointly organized by the Krabi Provincial Co-operative Offices (KPCO) and the Sisaket Agricultural Marketing Co-operative (SAMC), with the aim of helping rice farmers hit by a recent drop in the wholesale price of rice to just 5 baht a kilogram (story here).

“Farmers are facing hardship as a result of monopolizing of the market by middlemen paying low paddy prices to farmers, so we arranged this campaign to help give the farmers better profit margins,” said Suchon Chanakhum, acting chief of the KPCO.

SAMC manager Wuthikrai Suebsang said the rice sold at the event raised 900,000 baht for the farmers.

— Kritsada Mueanhawong