Drought Could Force More to Take Thai Jobs

An impending severe drought in the countryside could force an increase in the number of villagers illegally migrating to Thailand to seek work, officials in the northwest said Thursday.

National Disaster Control Committee First Vice Chairman Nhim Vanda said Wednesday that the country’s current dry spell is the worst since 1995, and could threaten the nation’s wet season rice harvest. Farmers nationwide could face food shortages if there is not a significant amount of rain in the next 10 days, he said.

Already, farmers from Banteay Meanchey province are beginning to go to Thailand to work in sweatshops or casava or sugar plantations, prov­in­cial Second Deputy Governor Nhiek Kim Chhun said. Cambo­dian workers make an average of $2 per day at the Thai plantations—half of the wage that Thai workers normally command.

Battambang provincial Gover­nor Prach Chan said he doubted that many farmers would abandon their fields to go to Thailand.

But Sorn Suon, a villager in Battambang’s Sangke district, said most of the young men in Baset village—including her son—have gone to Thailand. This is after several consecutive years of poor rice harvests due to droughts and floods, she said.

In Thailand, the men and women work as laborers at construction sites, porters, farmers, fishermen, garment workers and unskilled workers, the report said. A 1999 Cambodian Develop­ment Resource Institute study estimated 82,000 Cambodians work illegally in Thailand.

“Life for Cambodian migrants in Thailand…is not easy,” the Cambodia Development Review report stated. “Since most are illegal migrants, they face harassment, and pay high bribes and extortion money.”

O’Chrou district Police Chief Nuth Ly said Thursday that Thai authorities arrest and return at least 100 Cambodian workers at the Poipet border every week, sometimes by the busload.

On Tuesday, Thai police arrested 21 illegal Cambodian immigrants working as laborers at a fertilizer warehouse in Ayuth­haya, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper. Another 40 Cambo­dians panicked and fled into the nearby jungle, the report stated.