“If the government wants to provide a subsidy, it can do so in a small amount. Everyone eventually should stand on his own feet,” she said.
Ms. Kirida said the rice-pledging scheme has discouraged farmers from doing other jobs that would otherwise add value to the country’s economy.
The estimated loss, representing less than 2% of gross domestic product, will not bring on a fiscal crisis, but the concern is the government may cut other expenditures to fund the rice-pledging scheme, she said.