Customs taps technology for IUU battle
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Customs taps technology for IUU battle

The Customs Department's new mobile app will help officials to tackle IUU fishing practices. WICHAN CHAROENKIAT­PAKUL
The Customs Department's new mobile app will help officials to tackle IUU fishing practices. WICHAN CHAROENKIAT­PAKUL

The Customs Department has launched a mobile app for anti-IUU activity to help track fishing routes from the catch to the processing plant.

With the application, government officials will know where the catch was made, how it got to the factory and its final production process, director-general Kulit Sombatsiri said, adding that the weight of the fish shipped to plants must correlate with that of the canned fish.

The app will link data among state agencies and alert customs officials about suspected illegal fishing.

The department's examination of fish in the past was lacking because fish are a duty-free product, but such data collection must now be tightened to meet international standards, Mr Kulit said.

Meanwhile, the state-controlled Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) has approved 93 billion baht for three loan schemes to strengthen the farm sector.

Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said the lending schemes consisted of loans for the One Tambon One Agricultural SME programme, emergency loans to drought-stricken farmers and loans to encourage farmers to switch to crops that consume less water.

BAAC president Luck Wajanawat said the three loan schemes would go before the cabinet next week.

The One Tambon One Agricultural SME loan scheme, worth 72 billion baht, is for farmers wanting to use innovation and technology in the production process to add value and raise productivity.

Each borrower is limited to 20 million baht in seven-year loans at 4% interest.

Loan applications will be accepted from Feb 1 this year to March 31 next year.

The BAAC has set aside 6 billion baht for emergency loans to farmers hit by drought, with one-year loans capped at 12,000 baht per farmer. Borrowers receive a zero interest rate for the first six months and 4% for the remaining period.

Also, 15 billion baht in loans to encourage farmers to consume less water will be lent to agricultural communities to hire local farmers under contract. These one-year loans carry interest of 0.01%.

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