Rice Department to help Thai rice farmers cut costs

BANGKOK, June 24 (TNA) - Officials of the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives' Rice Department will train local rice farmers to use appropriate technologies to cut their production costs and to reduce their losses from any change in the government's rice pledging scheme. Rice Department Director-General Chairit Damrongkiat told journalists on Monday that his subordinates and officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension, also under his ministry, will start the nationwide training this week. Chairit said that his department will teach local farmers to reduce the quantity of rice seeds and the use of chemicals and other fertilizers, but using only quality seeds, not growing more than two crops per year and recording their cultivation costs. According to the senior Thai official, the Rice Department has already applied the solutions successfully in 26 villages of 26 provinces nationwide since 2011 and trained local farmers to reduce their costs to 4,983 baht, from the average level of 8,731 baht per tonne of paddy. With the lower costs, the senior official acknowledged, Thai farmers will earn more from the government's rice pledging scheme, with the benefits to be noticeable in the next crop season. (TNA)