Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the air force are collaborating on a fruit swap program, to shore up fruit prices.
The air force flew two tons of mangosteen, from the southern province of Surat Thani to Chiang Mai, to be sold in the North. The transport plane is to return with two tons of longan to be sold in the South.
Surat Thani governor Wichawut Jinto said that, this year, his province has produced about 7,000 tons of mangosteen and that the fruit is in over-supply locally. The sluggish economy, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, has reduced the mangosteen price to an all-time low.
He said it is necessary to help fruit growers, by providing them with more channels though which to sell their produce, adding that the program will be expanded to cover a swap of rambutan and rice between the South and the Northeast. This year’s harvest of rambutan in Surat Thani is expected to be around 38,000 tons. (NNT)
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