Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankhiri plans to inform the Cabinet of the need for a limit to be imposed on rice planting to only twice a year, a plan created to deal with drought conditions and the spread of plant diseases.

Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankiri, acting as president of the National Rice Policy Commission, revealed that during the next Cabinet meeting, he will present the commission's plan to restrict rice farming to only two times a year.

The plan has been designed to enhance rice production capabilities and was initiated by the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry.

Trairong stated that if the plan is approved by the Cabinet, it will be launched as soon as 2011 and remain in effect until 2014.

The limit will only be imposed on farms which receive water from the Royal Irrigation Department in 22 provinces and affect three million rai of rice farms per year.

Rice farmers who choose to comply with the plan will be granted special privileges, such as training, marketing assistance, interest leniency from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives and government-supplied grains. The plan will require 2.18 billion baht in funding.

The deputy prime minister insisted that the reduction of rice farming to only twice a year would improve crop quality and stifle plant disease epidemics.

The more environmentally conscious crop cycle will also reduce the impact of drought.

The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives has already been urging farmers to restrict their yearly planting after surveying persisting problems of drought and plant diseases.

Rice farmers across the country presently plant and harvest crops two to five times a year.

Source: TANN