Thai farmers put pressure on PM over rice payments

Published February 17, 2014 10:31am ET



BANGKOK (AP) — Hundreds of disgruntled Thai farmers breached razor-wire barricades outside the prime minister’s temporary office Monday to protest the government’s delayed payments from last year’s rice crops.

A flagship policy of Yingluck Shinawatra’s government was to buy Thailand’s staple grain at above-market prices, aiming to woo votes from millions of farmers. But the program has accumulated losses of at least $4.46 billion and has been dogged by corruption allegations.

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