Some 10 billion baht is set to be earmarked to help indebted farmers keep their farmland.
A panel handling the measures to help debt-ridden and poverty-stricken farmers, chaired by outgoing Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, said yesterday the proposal would shortly be submitted for cabinet approval.
The fund would be allocated from the budget reserved for emergency cases in fiscal 2016.
MR Pridiyathorn said the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives would provide another 10 billion baht to help debt-hit farmers retain their land.
In principle, the authorities would first negotiate with their creditors to buy back debts and make transfers to the fund.
About 90,000 farmers are mired in debt worth a combined 20 billion baht, according to an Interior Ministry report. Most of them placed their farmland as collateral with informal creditors and were about to have their lands forfeited.
The Interior Ministry reported to the cabinet on June 16 that those farmers would definitely lose their land if there was no assistance from the government.
MR Pridiyathorn said the scheme would help farmers remain in the agricultural sector.
"Gen Prayut has reiterated his call to related agencies to speed up tackling farmers' debts," he said. "We expect the Agriculture Ministry would be able to buy back farmers' debts over the next few months."
Earlier, Gen Prayut also ordered related agencies to implement a programme to help the second generation of farmers stay in the agricultural sector, while the government may provide funds for them to continue education or improve technology for production.
The premier recently expressed alarm at soaring farm debts and ordered all relevant state agencies to ensure no one loses their property.
More than 1.6 million farmers are reported to owe almost 400 billion baht.
Gen Prayut demanded total coordination among agencies and swift measures to help the farmers clear or manage their debts.
As of July, farm debts exceeded 388 billion baht, based on a report by the Interior Ministry's Provincial Administration Department.
The report revealed a total of 1,637,562 farmers are in the red, with combined debts of 388,361 billion baht, or an average of 237,158 baht.
Based on the figures collected by the Provincial Administration Department, farm debts can be divided into two chunks: non-formal totalling 21.6 billion baht, and formal totalling 367 billion baht.
A breakdown of the survey figures shows 149,437 farmers have non-formal debts. Almost 93,000 of them owe 13.4 billion baht and are in urgent need of assistance.
Information concerning this group has been handed over to the Justice Ministry to provide legal counsel. The Agriculture Ministry will be responsible for mapping out measures to deal with the problem.
The Finance Ministry will take charge of the formal debts that involve 1,488,125 farmers. It is expected to work with financial institutions and cooperatives to work out measures to help indebted farmers.