BANGKOK, 1 July 2015 – The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives touted its income creation project for drought-affected farmers, saying it benefited more than 900,000 farmers.
According to Deputy Permanent-Secretary of Agriculture and Cooperatives Sompong Inthong, the ministry disbursed three billion baht to fund more than 5,400 projects requested by drought-hit farmers across 58 provinces. More than 917,000 agriculturists or 2.4 million households were assisted by the government.
The committee tasked with following up on the projects’ progress has reported satisfactory outcomes. The northern province Nan successfully completed its check dam construction. Meanwhile, local fertilizer programs produced over 70,000 tons of organic compost, enabling farmers to mitigate spending on farming costs and earn more income fertilizer sales.
The project was scheduled for conclusion on June 30. The ministry has planned to seek Cabinet approval for the extension of some of these programs until the end August, due to the impact of the prolonged dry season. The project’s assessment is expected to be completed in September.
