BUSINESS

Rice pledging: the human toll

Business, Pathom Sangwongwanich, Published on 16/02/2014

» The rice pledging scheme was at the heart of the Pheu Thai Party's populist platform that swept Yingluck Shinawatra to power in the 2011 general election. But it has left the country with record rice stockpiles and hundreds of billions of baht in losses at taxpayer cost while throwing farmers into debt after the caretaker government delayed making payments for pledged rice.