It was revealed on Friday that close to 30,000 people have applied for a special government farming skills training programme for which only 9,188 positions were available.
A total of 29,674 applications for this programme, designed to help communities affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, were received between Nov 11 and Tuesday, Sutthiphong Chulcharoen, director-general of the Community Development Department told media.
He said those who are accepted will also be paid 9,000 baht per month as they will be working on various state projects as part of their education in the Khok Nong Na farming model.
After completing their term, they will return to communities and train others in their home towns.
Khok Nong Na is a new agricultural concept based on New-Theory Agriculture and the Sufficiency Economy philosophy initiated by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great.
Mr Sutthipong said the programme has received a good response.
"The department isn't just hiring more workers. We need to create social mobilisers who can return home and use the Khok Nong Na model to teach others to make a sustainable living," he said.
An exam and interviews will be carried out to select which applicants will be hired for the course which runs from Dec 1 until Sept 30 next year, he said.
The exam is scheduled to take place this Monday and the interview process will begin on Wednesday and run until next Sunday. A list of successful applicants will be published on Nov 30.
Under the model, land in divided into four parts: 30% for irrigation water storage, 30% for growing rice, 30% for growing a mixture of plants with the remaining 10% reserved for residential and livestock areas.
Successful applicants will be each paid 9,000 baht a month while training at 3,246 agricultural sites in 2,760 tambons in 73 provinces, he said.
The programme is intended for farmers, unemployed workers and new graduates returning from large cities to their hometowns in the provinces as a result of the economic impact of the pandemic, said Mr Sutthiphong.