BANGKOK, 24 September 2013 The Commerce Ministry will introduce a semi-online system to facilitate the next round of rice mortgage scheme commencing on October 1st, in its bid to prevent corruption.
Director of the Public Warehouse Organization (PWO) Chanutpakon Wongsrinin met with 300 provincial PWO coordinators from nationwide to prepare for the implementation of the online pledging system. Toward that goal, the PWO sets to provide crucial information on details of the new round of the rice pledging scheme to millers, warehouse operators, and surveyors responsible for rice quality inspection.
According to the PWO Director, the Semi-Online IT system will speed up the procedure, particularly in the issuance of godown receipts to rice farmers. Director Chanutpakon believed that the IT system would significantly reduce corruption risks through receipt duplication. The system is expected to be fully operational by January or February next year.
The system would also likely be used in other agricultural mortgage programs such as cassava, the director added.
Mr. Chanutpakon also expressed his confidence that there would be enough warehouses joining the rice mortgaging scheme this season, due to the reduced number of rice being allowed to be mortgaged by each farmer.
