Thailand launches new rice price policy (7 October 2011, BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15209876 )
Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, launches a new pricing scheme today.
The government is offering to buy unmilled rice at a 50% premium to the current market rate.
It says the measure will boost the incomes of farmers and help alleviate rural poverty.
Critics, however, believe it will skew the market.
The BBC's Rachel Harvey asked Ammar Siamwalla, senior economist at the Thailand Development Research Institute, about the potential consequences of the new policy.