Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has 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 has told the agencies to complete debt negotiations with each farmer by the end of the month.
Deputy government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Gen Payut demanded total coordination among the agencies and swift measures to help the farmers clear or manage their debts.
As of July, farm debts have exceeded 388 billion baht based on a report prepared by the Interior Ministry’s Provincial Administration Department, Maj Gen Sansern said.
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. The report findings have been forwarded to the Finance Ministry, the Agriculture Ministry, the Justice Ministry and other agencies.
“The Prime Minister has stressed that all relevant agencies must coordinate closely to help the farmers," Maj Gen Sansern said. "It’s important to categorise and assess their debts and needs so the measures can really ease the burdens and refrain from the one-size-fits-all approach."
Speaking in his weekly televised address on Friday night, Gen Prayut said to prevent farmers losing their land, their problems should be competently addressed with legal assistance for debtors and negotiations on compromises and debt-clearing.
The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry’s Centre to Coordinate Farm Debt will be the main agency overseeing work related to solving debt problems faced by all types of farmers.
The Justice Ministry’s Centre to Assist Debtors and Unfairly-Treated Persons will look into urgent cases of debtors in the non-formal lending sector.
Collaboration between the Legal Cases Department and the Rights and Liberties Protection Department will cover debt cases being processed in the justice system and cases of non-formal lenders who were influential figures or connected to influential figures. Legal aid will be provided to the debtor, after which the case will be handed over to the Agriculture Ministry for clearing.
Non-urgent cases of non-formal loans will be overseen by the revolving loan fund, Farmer’s Reconstruction and Development Fund and the Farmer Aid Fund. Negotiations or debt-clearing will be arranged.
For debtors in the formal system, the Finance Ministry will issue measures to financial institutes and cooperatives for their assistance, Gen Prayut said.
In order to ensure debt issues proceed efficiently, he said, provincial and district-level subcommittees that assist farmers and those in poverty and other provincial agencies will arrange compromises based on figures acquired from surveys. The debt cases will be screened and handed over to relevant agencies for further action.
“Operation plans for debt negotiations shall be finished by Aug 31 for all cases,” Gen Prayut said.
Maj Gen Sansern said Gen Prayut also instructed authorities to educate farmers on how to manage their finances so they can avoid the debt trap.
“The farmers should set themselves free from debt or at least properly manage their debts and avoid financial trouble,” he said.
Based on the figures collected by the Provincial Administration Department, farm debts can be divided into two chunks: non-formal totalling 21.59 billion baht and formal of 366.7 billion baht.
A breakdown of the survey figures shows 149,437 farmers have non-formal debts. Of them, almost 93,000 owe 13.4 billion baht and are in need of urgent 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 debt problem.
The Finance Ministry will take charge of the formal debts which involve 1,488,125 farmers. It is expected to work with financial institutions and cooperatives in working out measures to help indebted farmers.
Gen Prayut also instructed state agencies to initiate supplementary measures to help farmers to raise incomes and improve their livelihoods.