The Thai Government has approved a rice aid package worth 97.95 billion THB (2.94 billion USD) for the 2018-19 crop, aiming to encourage farmers to delay their paddy sales and improve harvesting and price quality.
Thai farmers harvest rice on a field in Tak Bai district of Narathiwat province (Photo: AFP/VNA)
Bangkok (VNA)– The Thai Government has approved a rice aid package worth 97.95 billion THB (2.94billion USD) for the 2018-19 crop, aiming to encourage farmers to delay theirpaddy sales and improve harvesting and price quality.
The packageincludes a 35.06 billion THB loan to be offered by the State-owned Bankfor Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), with 62.89 billion THB inone-off payments that the Government will hand out directly to farmers via theBAAC.
According to thePrime Minister’s Office, there will be three credit schemes with differentpurposes.
The first is a loanscheme for farmers who agree to delay their paddy sales and the grant forharvesting and price-quality improvement costs will cost an estimated 22.56billion THB.
Accordingly, thegovernment will grant 1,500 THB per rai (equivalent to 0.16ha) forharvesting and price-quality improvement costs, capped at 18,000 THB per familyand not more than 12 rai (or 1.92ha).
Farmers are also entitled to earn17,050 THB per tonne for hom mali (jasmine) fragrant rice; 15,450 THB per tonnefor glutinous rice; 12,000 THB per tonne for white rice; and 12,900 THBper tonne of Pathum Thani fragrant rice, if they agree to hold their paddyunder the barn-pledging scheme.
The second is a credit worth 12.5 billion THB forfarming cooperatives to gather rice or add value to rice, together with a 3-percentinterest subsidy programme for rice traders who agree to hold stocks for 60-180days estimated to cost the government 572 million THB.
Theseprogrammes will run from September this year to September 2019, in allprovinces, except for the south. Those for the southern region will start fromJune to October 2019. –VNA
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Thai farmers harvest rice on a field in Tak Bai district of Narathiwat province (Photo: AFP/VNA) 
