The Commerce Ministry has joined with the Agriculture Ministry to set up planning and zoning projects using a single data centre to prevent crops prices from falling and to create added value under the Agriculture 4.0 concept.
Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said the two ministries will be working together for the first time as they seek to make farm supply match demand.
"We will be working as a single, seamless team to support farm product prices and add value to Thai agricultural products," Mr Sontirat said.
He said the two ministries will create a big data exchange centre, comprising both production data and marketing data.
"The data includes the plantation area of each crop, Thailand's production level and how much the market wants to buy," Mr Sontirat said, adding that this data will help prevent oversupply of farm products that could lead to falling prices, forcing farmers to ask for government subsidies.
He said the data centre project will be used to analyse major commodities such as rice, rubber, palm oil, cassava and corn.
"All information from the data centre will be available for farmers to allow them to learn about the current market situation," Mr Sontirat said. "So they have good plans to grow crops, preventing oversupply."
The team will apply the online platform to be used as a new marketing channel to allow Thai farm products to reach international consumers directly, which should help increase sales volume and value, he said.
The team will work together in upgrading the farm sector to Agriculture 4.0 by applying new biotechnology to help create added value, as well as modernise Thai farm products to match changing consumer behaviour.
The Agriculture Ministry reported that the agricultural sector grew 5.3% this year on increased value in planting, fishery, livestock and agricultural services. With the sector's strong performance, the ministry expects growth of 3-4% next year.