The government is creating an "agri-map" to more efficiently manage the supply and demand of farm products as it moves to comprehensively reform the agricultural sector, Agriculture Minister Grisada Boonrach said on Tuesday.
The map will enable government agencies to assess the specific amount of farm products to produce in different areas at various times of the year in order to prevent oversupply.
Some crops flood the markets, driving down prices and prompting the government to fork out subsidies that can run into hundreds of billions of baht a year, according to the minister.
A better management system is needed to strike a balance between supply and demand and ease pressure on the national budget, he said.
Mr Grisada said he has instructed the ministry's permanent secretary and the Office of the Agricultural Economics to compile data about key cash crops and analyse it, with a focus on certain crops both domestically and abroad.
The information on the supply side must be obtained from the localities where the crops are grown so it is genuine and accurate.
To establish the database, cooperation must be secured from the Thai agriculture and commerce attache offices around the world, as well as from state agencies and academic institutes.
At the same time, the Commerce Ministry has drawn up a farm commodity calendar which contains details such as when supply of seasonal cash crops peaks, and when demand from overseas rises or falls.
Mr Grisada said the calendar will help the government calculate the volume of crop production at any given time.
The map is being developed with the aid of the Land Development Department.