BANGKOK, 18 June 2014 – The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) has announced the closure of the rice pledging project for the 2012/2013 production season, after having completed payment to some 830,000 rice growers.
BAAC managing director Lak Wotchananawat on Tuesday witnessed the final payment made to rice growers who have been waiting several months for the money owed to them. The last batch of payment, part of the 92 billion baht paid to rice growers after the NCPO came to power, was given to rice growers in Nam Phong district of Khon Kaen province.
The BAAC started its most recent round of payment to rice farmers on May 26, finally allowing all unpaid rice growers to get their money. Earlier, all rice growers were expected to have been paid by June 22; however, the payment proceeded faster than expected and the last farmers were paid on Tuesday.
According to Mr. Lak, the money now in the hands of the farmers is expected to help the national economy expand by another 0.2% on top of the projected growth.
