BANGKOK, 12 October 2013 The Deputy Agriculture Minister has paid a visit to Lopburi Province to follow up on the government’s rice pledging program.
Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office and Deputy Minister for Agriculture Warathep Rattanakorn, during his visit to Lopburi, inspected the 2013-2014 rice mortgage scheme and the registration process. As of now, more than 80 percent of the rice farmers in Lopburi have already registered for the program.
On the same day the deputy minister traveled to Lopburi’s Muang District where a rice mill under the rice program was located. Minister Warathep was informed that the rice mill had pledged over 100 tons of rice from 40 farmers.
Mr. Warathep also revealed that 2,600,000 farmers nationwide have already signed up for the rice program, while the number of registered farms is 46 million rai, 444,000 of which came through the community system.
Before leaving the province, the Deputy Minister for Agriculture urged the officials to check all processes, ranging from farm inspection to certificate issuance, in order to prevent fraud and corruption. He added that if any acts of corruption are found, legal charges will be pressed against the wrongdoers.
