New measures to encourage rice farmers to grow cash crops other than rice are scheduled to go before the cabinet for approval next Tuesday.
The new measures include price guarantees, soft loans, crop insurance and development of marketing and distribution channels, said Agriculture Minister Grisada Boonrach.
"The ministry is committed to promoting farm production in line with the market's demand," he said. "Before farmers decide to grow any crops, we have to rest assured that they have markets to absorb their production."
According to Mr Grisada, the current rice plantation spans 58 million rai of farmland, with many areas inappropriate for growing rice.
The Agriculture Ministry aims to continue encouraging farmers in mismatched areas who are adamant about growing rice for the second or third round a year to switch to raising corn.
Mr Grisada said Thailand has corn demand of 8 million tonnes a year but can produce only 4 million tonnes domestically and must import the balance.
He said the ministry will encourage rice farmers to first grow corn before expanding to other field crops, vegetables and fruits.
The ministry is scheduled next week to propose 641 million baht to support rice farmers who agree to switch to growing other field crops in the next six months.
The scheme would cover 33 provinces and 2.8 million rai of rice land.
The ministry will team up with the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to provide soft loans at an interest rate of 0.1% for farmers who join the scheme.
The ministry has also partnered with the Office of Insurance Commission to offer crop insurance to participating farmers with a low premium rate of 40-50 baht per rai.
Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said his ministry is speeding up a plan to open more central markets nationwide to give vendors and farmers from rural areas direct access to buyers.
The ministry has established 55 central markets nationwide.
The ministry also aims to work in partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to help promote the linkage between local farms and hotels, restaurants, homestays and spas.
Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said the Commerce Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry were ordered to work closely with leading private firms to help restructure the farm sector.
Closer ties between the private sector and the ministries will help balance supply and demand, Mr Somkid said.