Warehouse Tour Turns Up Sorry Tale of Pigeon Droppings, Grime and Insect InfestationsRecently, a media has discovered a warehouse where government-purchased rice were stocked. The warehouse was dirty, and when looking closer to rice sacks, signs of life were noticed. Bugs and critters ran to and fro in ever-shifting tunnels within the rice mountain. Pigeons coo from high up in the wooden ceiling, interspersed with the occasional splatter of fresh droppings on the rice sacks.

Why is there a large volume of government-purchased rice stocked in the warehouse? The answer is due to bad economic tactic imposed by the government, leading by Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand’s prime minister. The government believed that by buying the rice from farmers 50% above the market price will give farmers incentives to boost their productions. Instead, the high pledging price has given Vietnam and other competitors a clear step up to become the world’s leading rice exporters.

The stock of rice in the warehouse causes the consumers to question about the hygiene and quality of Thai rice. From the ethical point of view, the government shouldn’t export this volume of rice for its own benefits. With this low and unacceptable quality of rice, the government should stop promoting Thailand as the world’s best rice producer when it could not maintain the quality of rice. It would give consumers faulty image and information. This will not only hurt consumers around the world, but the country itself as well, since the image as the producer of the world’s best rice, an image built up over many decades, will be damaged.

Link to article: Warehouse tour turns up sorry tale of pigeon droppings, grime and insect infestations