BANGKOK, Sept 9 – The Natural Rubber Policy Committee (NRPC) agreed to double financial aid to rubber growers from Bt1,260 per rai (0.4 acre) to Bt2,520 per rai, Deputy Prime Minister/Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said today.
He said the assistance, limited to 25 rai (10 acres) per household or equivalent to Bt12 per kilogramme of rubber, will cost the government Bt21.288 billion. The scheme is valid for seven months.
Combined with the financial assistance, farmers who currently sell rubber at Bt81/kg will get a total of Bt93/kg, said the deputy prime minister who is NRPC chairman.
He insisted that it would be impossible to spend the national budget to subsidise rubber at Bt100/kg.
Mr Kittiratt said the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) has registered rubber growers qualified for the financial assistance since last Tuesday, claiming that the majority of farmers agreed with the subsidy.
He said the BAAC and the Natural Resources Ministry were assigned to jointly look into the plight of farmers who encroached into national parks to plant rubber trees.
The BAAC and Government Savings Bank (GSB) will be summoned for discussion tomorrow on loans to cooperatives and manufacturers of rubber-related products while provincial governors in rubber-growing provinces would be instructed to explain the NRPC resolution to farmers.
The resolution would be given for Cabinet approval tomorrow.
Prachai Kongwaree, president of the ASEAN Rubber Gloves Manufacturers Association, said regional manufacturers have been told to urgently buy rubber at the present price of Bt81/kg given a trend to higher prices in the near future.
He said the GSB should make it clear on whether it would lend only to rubber manufacturers or to other business sectors as well.
