Thailand’s Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) is planning to develop and nurture smart farmers who use innovation to increase production and farming efficiency.
BAAC president Thanarat Ngamvalairat said the bank is working on the details of a plan to launch a three-year soft loan scheme, worth 60 billion baht, to enable farmers to upgrade their businesses using advanced technology, such as smart greenhouses. The soft loans can serve as revolving capital and carry an annual interest rate of 4%.
He said, before farmers can upgrade, they first have to identify their obstacles and adapt, in order to improve their product quality, cut costs and increase production capacity, adding that loans alone do not create smart farmers.
Mr. Thanarat explained that the BAAC has teamed up with the Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research to provide relevant knowledge to farmers and SMEs in the agricultural sector. The bank also joined forces with Export-Import Bank of Thailand to help small and medium-sized farmers find export markets. (NNT)
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