BAAC approves B100bn for rice farmers
The government has injected capital worth more than 100 billion baht to help ease farmers’ plight for the 20202021 harvest season, says the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).
The bank approved three major projects to assist farmers, said BAAC senior executive vice-president Kasab Ngeanruang.
The first project provides a subsidy for cost management and development of rice production for the 2020-2021 harvest season, said Mr Kasab.
Farmers registered as rice growers for the 2020-2021 harvest season will receive a cash subsidy of 500 baht per rai, with the maximum capped at 10,000 baht or 20 rai, from the Agricultural Extension Department.
A budget worth 28 billion baht has been allocated for this project, with disbursement targeted for 4.56 million households, he said.
The BAAC plans to transfer the subsidy to farmers’ deposit accounts between Feb 25 and April 30.
The second project is the loan programme to support a delay in the sale of 1.82 million tonnes of first crop paddy harvested in the 2020-2021 season. The programme has a total credit line of 24.3 billion baht.
The third project is a scheme for rice growers to insure their income for the sale of produce to break even with the cost of the harvest. The total credit line for this scheme is 50.6 billion baht.