The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) has on Wednesday introduced measures worth 300 billion baht to help the 300,000 farmers affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
Some of the measures will be allocated for the development of 200,000 new farmers under the government’s Smart Farming policy.
Apirom Sukprasert, BAAC’s president, said the people who were let go during the outbreak have decided to return home to their provinces and take up farming. The measures are meant to support them.
They include:
- A direct subsidy with a budget of 10.7 billion baht for 300,000 existing farmers and 200,000 new farmers who are looking to invest in the development of their farmland.
- A budget of 22 billion baht for 16,000 community enterprises to use for investment in water management, mills, machines and innovative technologies. The BAAC will invest in only 50 per cent of the projects that have been approved with a limit of 5 million baht per enterprise. It will also come with a loan budget worth 70 billion baht.
- A budget of 21.68 billion baht for 7,255 farmer institutions to invest in processing and logistics, as well as helping the farmers make valuable market connections. This will also come with a loan budget of 20 billion baht.