MEASURES WILL be implemented as part of long-term efforts to help protect farmers from the continued low price of rice - including developing farmland and advanced planning through the cooperation of relevant agencies, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday.

Prayut said farm zoning was still on the agenda and would be further studied by the Interior Ministry.

He said key polices to address the issue included developing land in major river basins into farmland instead of factories or other industries, although he did not say what would happen to the existing businesses in these basins.

There would be no campaign to convince farmers to give up rice farming, as Northeast farmers had suggested after citing speculation in the media.

The junta chief said the focus would be on utilising less farmland and water while at the same time increasing productivity.

He said the Interior Ministry’s Damrongtham Centre, which was dedicated to helping financially struggling people, was assisting farmers by working with the Agriculture Ministry to find out which areas of the country were suitable for certain crops.

Assistance would then be given to farmers who were willing to take part in the farm-zoning scheme.

The Bt1,000 per rai that would be paid to farmers might be increased at a later stage.

Prayut said farmers would be classified into four groups - very poor or landless, those owning more than 40 rai of farmland, those with more wealth or those who use tractors or other machinery, and those operating farms and also leasing other farmland.

All groups would be eligible for different kinds of government assistance or subsidies.

Both ministries would jointly conduct the classification process and consult on other details important to working out the zoning policy.

The prime minister said a similar zoning scheme would also apply to the rubber industry in a bid to better shield it from a drop in global rubber prices. He did not provide more details.

He planned to promote environmental tourism, which would include foreign tourists briefly staying at rice farms.

Source: The Nation