The state-owned Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) began making one-off cost-subsidy payments to small-holding rice farmers on Monday, with a total 176 million baht to be handed out to 14,000 households in eight provinces.
Farmers in Khon Kaen take a group picture after receiving the payout, a maximum of 15,000 baht per household. (Bangkok Post photo)
The Prayut Chan-o-cha cabinet approved the payout of 1,000 baht per rai, with a maximum payment for 15 rai, for small farmers to help them meet increasing growing costs, begining Oct 1. Today was the first day of payments.
Around 3.49 million households, each with no more than 15-rai, will benefit from the payment of 40 billion baht in total. It covers a total 63.8 million rai of rice fields.
BAAC president Luck Wajananawat said the 176.1 million baht would be paid out on Monday to a total of 14,311 registered farmers in the first eight provinces under the scheme.
The payout breakdown: Lop Buri (984 farmers, 9.2 million baht), Khon Kaen (2,407 farmers, 26.9 million), Si Sa Ket (5,223 farmers, 60.6 million), Maha Sarakham (1,476 farmers, 16.5 million), Surin (195 farmers, 2.3 million), Pichit (961 farmers, 13.5 million), Kamphaengphet (2,990 farmers, 42 million) and Phitsanulok (975 farmers, 5.1 million baht).
The bank president encouraged farmers who have not yet registered as rice growers with the Agriculture Ministry office in their area to complete registration and apply for payment at their BAAC branch.
Mr Luck said the bank would verify the information and if there was no problem the farmers would get the money within three days after they submitted their document to the bank.
Khon Kaen BAAC director Thanu Tosajja said on Monday that a total of 166,000 rice farming households in the northeastern province, with about 2.34 million rai of farmland, had registered for state assistance. The government had set aside 2.3 billion baht for farmers in the province.
Mr Thanu said 10,740 rice farming households in Nong Rua district, with total farmland of 126,939 rai, were the first group of recipients in the province receiving the payout, totalling 126 million baht, from the BAAC.
In Phitsanulok, a large number of farmers arrived at the BAAC branch in Muang district, but many went home empty handed. Only 375 farmers received the payout on Monday. The bank plans to pay about 50,000 households, with about 800,000 rai of rice fields between them, by Oct 31.
Adisak Klaitim, a farmer in tambon Tha Pho of Muang district, Phitsanulok, said the money he was given today would probably not be sufficient to cover his family's outlay as rice growing costs had increased.
However, he was happy the government had given assistance and the money would help. He had not yet planted a new crop due to the water shortage.
Hom Boonkor, a farmer in tambon Tha Thong of Muang district, said after received 10,000 baht for his 10 rai that he was glad to get the assistance. The rice price was quite low this year and the price of fertiliser and fuel remained high.
Farmers in Chai Nat were disappointed to discover no subsidy money had been deposited in their bank accounts on Monday. The province is scheduled to receive payment later this week. (Bangkok Post photo)
In Chai Nat, many farmers who checked their bank accounts came away disappointed, because the province is not yet scheduled to receive the payment.
There are a total of 26,596 farmers registered to receive around 390 million baht from nine BAAC branches in the province. A local bank spokesman said the money was expected to be available this week.
Somsri Trongma, 52, a farmer in tambon Taluk of Sapphaya district, was disappointed because she had planned to spend the money buying seed rice. Instead she would have to buy the seed on credit, at three percent interest per month, because she could not delay planting any longer to avoid the flood during the harvest.
The BACC has been told to implement other measures to assist farmers. These include reducing loan interest rates for rice growers during the 2014-2015 harvest season by 3% a year for a loan of up to 50,000 baht each, with a lending period of not more than six months.
The bank also has a loan scheme to help farmers delay selling their rice during a period of fallng prices. Under the scheme, farmers could place their Hom Mali (fragrant jasmine) or glutinous paddy as surety to seek loans from the BAAC, which would grant loans of up to 300,000 baht to each farmer without charging interest, but the the loan must repaid within four months.
The short-term interest-free loan scheme, which runs from Nov 1 to Sept 30 next year, targets farmers in the North and the Northeast, with 1.5 million tonnes of unmilled rice being placed as surety for loans of 17 billion baht.
The BAAC also plans a long-term loan scheme to help rice farmers cut production costs and boost their negotiating power in the market.