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One million rai to be available to farmers
WICHIT CHANTANUSORNSIRI
The government will move ahead with its plans to lease out one million rai of public lands, according to Pichai Naripthaphan, a deputy finance minister. Mr Pichai, speaking after a visit to the Treasury Department yesterday, said authorities would also move to implement a new crop price protection scheme to reduce income volatility for farmers.
Authorities would survey different properties to determine their suitability for planting various crops. Land to be included in the programme includes 500,000 rai previously used by the armed forces but subsequently returned to the Treasury Department for development.
Earlier this year the government floated the idea of renting out public land to low-income farmers for three-year terms at annual rates as low as 20 baht per rai.
Mr Pichai said land would be reserved for landless farmers as well as for households of low-income soldiers.
''I want to stress that this programme will be only for individual farmers. Private businesses will have no right to lease state land under the programme,'' he added.
Irrigation networks would be built as part of the government's 1.7-trillion-baht infrastructure megaproject programme.
Mr Pichai said investment would apply the concept of agricultural zones, where farm co-operatives representing local farmers would help produce and sell crops.
He reiterated the government's intention that crops on public land should focus on commodities such as cassava, sugar cane and palm that could be used in producing alternative fuels such as ethanol.
Mr Pichai told Treasury Department officials that efforts to catalogue over 90,000 valuable items and properties under the stewardship of the department should be completed, with a budget set for maintenance and renovation if necessary.
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