The state-owned Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) aims for at least 500,000 farmers to use its mobile banking services this year.
After the bank recently rolled out its A-mobile application and QR code payment services, 140,000 farmers have downloaded BAAC's app to their mobile phones, said president Apirom Sukprasert during the official launch of the app.
Initially, BAAC wants to provide financial literacy services and knowledge about farm production and marketing on the mobile banking app before expanding to PromptPay-based money transfers, utility bills and debt payment services in the next phase, he said.
The bank's QR code payment service is still in the Bank of Thailand's regulatory sandbox, said Mr Apirom.
During the QR code payment trial period, the service is restricted to seven areas, including Or Tor Kor market, located in front of Chatuchak market; Nang Loeng market; and Dai Chang in Chiang Rai province.
Some 100 merchants accept the bank's QR code payment, he said.
The new financial services are aimed at complementing the lifestyles of BAAC's younger customers and smart farmers who prefer making transactions on mobile phones rather than going to traditional bank branches.
In another development, BAAC is conducting a financial literacy project for farmers and community leaders. The bank first opened sufficiency economy learning centres in its 2015 financial year to educate people on how to arrange household accounts, use new financial products and avoid fraud when adopting new technologies.
The bank aims to expand the project into its second phase by providing financial and digital literacy to farmers, helping them employ new technologies to beef up their competitiveness.
The government has a policy of upgrading farmers to become agricultural SME operators, pushing them to produce value-added products to sustainably boost their income.
The bank plans to enlarge the ratio of its agricultural SME loans to 40% of the total by 2020. Agricultural SME loans accounted for a mere 3% of the BAAC's outstanding loans at the end of the last financial year.