A 40-year-old tapioca farmer took drastic measures in trying to be heard by government officials. Her name is Patcharida Keeratinoppadol and she is a tapioca farmer from Nakhon Ratchasima Province. Yesterday, the woman resorted to taking off her clothes in front of Government House in protest of Cabinet’s recent approval of a tapioca pledging program.

Patcharida came to the Government House with the goal of submitting a protest letter against the government’s tapioca pledging program.

At its retreat in Chiang Mai Province, the Yingluck administration approved the 10 million ton program with a budget of 33 billion baht. Officials will offer compensation of 2.75 baht per kilogram to tapioca farmers between February 1 til May 31, 2012.

Patcharida said the program will prompt buyers to offer even cheaper prices in order to pressure farmers into entering the program.

However, the disgruntled farmer refused to submit her protest letter to officials at Government House. Instead, she stripped out of her clothes, revealing black lace lingerie, and demanded to speak to reporters. After handing to her letter to the press, she explained her reasons for protesting the pledging program before putting her clothes back on.

TAN Network