The Industrial Promotion Department plans to spend the government's budget of 800 million baht to develop and support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and community enterprises in 2020.
The department under the Industry Ministry expects to increase economic value to more than 13 billion baht from the participation of 16,200 entrepreneurs and 2,200 companies.
Some 9,600 flagship products from 70 segments are expected under the 2020 plan.
Nattapol Rangsitpol, the department's director-general, said the plan is focusing on local farmers because the government wants to transform traditional agriculture to modern farming through the adoption of technology and innovation under the Thailand 4.0 initiative.
"The government will support them to be smart farmers. They will be approached through all agriculture stages -- upstream, midstream and downstream -- in a bid to create economic value in this supply chain," he said.
"The 2020 plan is open to other business sectors as well, aiming to provide specific knowledge and techniques to do business, while the government will provide different coaching periods for each SME or community enterprise, depending on their difficulties."
Mr Nattapol said financial tools and funding sources will be provided through this plan.
"The department will connect partners and agencies to support this plan, expecting to create new SMEs under the concept of creative thinking," he said.
"The department is teaming up with the Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Ministry for courses and programmes in educational institutions."
Mr Nattapol said participants in the 2020 plan will be trained in the digital programme for six months. They can develop mobile apps and online channels to support their business operations.
In the initial stage, the department expects roughly 20 SMEs to participate.
Moreover, the ministry will cooperate with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to take part in the 22-billion-baht Creative Industry Village (CIV) scheme to develop the provincial economy and increase household incomes.
The CIV will be connected to the government's industrial support system to access financial tools under the Business Process Outsourcing model to support SMEs, farmers and community enterprises.