The National Rice Policy and Management Committee (NRPMC) on Thursday approved the income insurance program for rice farmers during the 2020-2021 production season.
Ratchada Thanadirek, the deputy spokeswoman for the Prime Minister’s Office, told reporters that the government approved, in principle, the scheme which will run from July 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021.
She said the scheme for the new season will be based on the one last year without providing more details.
Last year, the subsidy program was worth 21 billion baht and covered around four million farmers.
The scheme saw jasmine rice being insured for 15,000 baht per tonne with a cap of 14 tonnes per household. Jasmine rice growers outside irrigated areas were insured at 14,000 baht for up to 16 tonnes per household. Glutinous rice was insured at 12,000 baht per tonne for up to 16 tonnes per household. Non-glutinous rice was insured at 10,000 baht up to 30 tonnes per household.
Predictions
The NRPMC said that it expects global rice production to increase by 8.1 million tonnes from 493.79 million tonnes during the 2019-2020 season to 501.96 million tonnes for the 2020-2021 season.
The global rice stock is expected to increase by 3.83 million tonnes to 184.18 million tonnes at the end the 2020-2021 season with China carrying the biggest stock followed by India and Thailand.
Thailand rice exports significantly dropped to 7.58 million tonnes, the worst in six years. The country came second after India’s 9.77 million tonnes and ahead of Vietnam at 6.37 million tonnes.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, rice exports were expected to drop to 7.5 million tonnes in 2020 from 7.58 million tonnes in 2019 because of drought and economic slowdown.
For the first four months of 2020, Thailand exported 2.1 million tonnes of rice worth 43.05 billion baht, down 32.1 per cent and 15.7 per cent year on year respectively.