Academics and farmers' leaders got together yesterday to discuss rural problems, mark the 25th anniversary of the Farmers Federation of Thailand and work out a future direction for the organisation.

Anand Kanchanaphan, a Chiang Mai University lecturer in sociology and humanity, said farmers need to go on the campaign offensive to avoid being turned into mere farm hands.

They must stand up and demand amendments to the law to limit landholdings to prevent their property falling into the hands of rich investors. Unfair land and other taxes must also be restructured.

"This is the most important reform issue, and needs to be addressed and corrected within the next 10 years, to prevent farmers losing their land to rich buyers," he said.

Farmers also needed to be more vocal in asserting their basic rights to natural resources and a role in politics and local administration.

Participation in pressure groups should be encouraged to enable them to make their voices heard, he said.

Boonsong Chinawong, a farmers' leader, said the constitution encouraged the formation of farmers' organisations, but the government had not made any attempt to accommodate them.

Mr Boonsong said farmers had been put at a disadvantage by the present economic system because they lacked the power to dictate prices.

Kanoksak Kaewthep, a Chulalongkorn University economist, and Chalardchai Raitanont, another Chiang Mai lecturer in sociology and humanity, agreed farmers should try to depend less on the state-owned Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.

Instead of handing the income from their labours back to the bank as interest payments on loans, they should turn to alternative subsistent farming, which would make them less dependent financially on the BAAC.

Without the burden of interest repayments, they would be better able to pull themselves out of the loan cycle that has undermined their livelihood for generations, they said.