No answers for out-of-pocket cassava farmers
No answers for out-of-pocket cassava farmers
Cassava growers in Sangthong district, Vientiane, who sold their crops to the Lao-Indochina Group Public Company want answers from the government as to how long it will take for outstanding payments to be made.
The company still owes farm ers for crops they delivered in 2012 but they have not received any answers after district authorities sent the figures for the cassava crops supplied and the associated costs to the government two years ago, according to the Sangthong Administration Office.
So far, no agencies have responded to the issue, which is raising public concern, especially among the farmers who are owed money by the company.
District farmers sold their total cassava crop of 21 million tonnes, worth almost 963 million kip, to the company for processing at its tapioca factory in Pakngum district, the district agriculture and forestry office reported.
Farmers from the district's nine villages of Nongboua, Samphanna, Khokpheung, Hinlub, Thanasanghin, Houaykham, Paktone, Napor and Pakthep have been impacted.
Farmers want to know when they will get paid for their cassava. Some of them still owe money to a district bank after borrowing to clear their land and develop their farms for cultivation.
Most of the unpaid farmers have begun growing different crops, while some are doing other jobs to earn a living.
In a bid to keep the issue alive, district authorities asked the media to try to find out what was going on and what the truth was. Most local people believe the factory ceased operation due to financial problems.
The company still owes about 13.5 billion kip to local cassava growers who supplied them with their crops, after paying almost 4 billion kip of the total 17.5 billion kip owed, a former factory official told Vientiane Times on a site visit two years ago.
The company is also in debt to Nayoby Bank which provided it with a substantial loan.
Many people would like to know what will happen about the debts and whether they will ever be repaid.
After the company hit financial troubles it submitted a proposal for assistance to the National Assembly, Deputy Prime Minister, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Nayoby Bank and the Government Office but there has not been any official response as yet.
