Cabinet to be asked to keep crop insurance

Under the proposal, damaged crops will be divided into two categories: those affected by natural disaster and those hit by insect infestation. Compensation for the first would be paid at Bt1,111 per rai (6,944 per hectare) and Bt555 per rai for the second.

Luck Wajannawatch, president of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), said yesterday that as the crop-insurance premium would focus mainly on rice production, farmers would have to shoulder Bt60 per rai and the government would subsidise the remainder. 

The bank is considering providing additional financial assistance of Bt10 per rai to its customers, he said. 

The compensation level aims to cover 80-90 per cent of rice production costs.

To support this policy, the government has allocated a budget of Bt50 billion to handle the insurance instead of passing on the risk to reinsurers.

Luck said some 8 million rai (1.28 million hectares) of farmland is expected to be covered by the new crop-insurance programme. 

Last year, farmers bought crop insurance for only 1.05 million rai, with total premiums of Bt120 million and subsequent compensation of Bt700 million.

The BAAC yesterday also inked an agreement with the Thai Chamber of Commerce, the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) and the Agricultural Land Reform Office to support jointly the “One Rai, Bt100,000, One Year” project. 

The project will focus on the implementation of His Majesty the King’s “sufficient economy” theory. Primarily, 85 farmers will be selected to carry out the King’s theory on 100 rai of demonstration farmland at tambon Bang-ta-nai, in Nonthaburi’s Pak Kret district, with a view to farmers more widely adopting the theory in the long run.

The Thai Chamber of Commerce-initiated project is aimed at narrowing the income gap by increasing farmers’ incomes and adopting a self-sufficiency economy.

“The project aims to help solve the income-gap problem in society,” chamber chairman Phongsak Assakul said. “Farmers normally carry a high debt burden, as their incomes do not cover their costs. By adopting the mixed-agriculture model and business management, they will no longer suffer liabilities and will be able to support their families.” 

Phongsak added that the UTCC would allocate the 100 rai of land under the project. 

Initiated in 2010, the “One Rai, Bt100,000, One Year” project works to increase farmers’ knowledge for utilising advanced methods that focus on green production and local-product usage. 

Farmers will be educated to grow rice and feed for livestock and aquatic animals, as well as vegetables and herbs, to utilise empty areas on dykes and surrounding rice plantations.

Use of the land will be based on the combination-farming method, with a focus on developing knowledge in new farming methods and providing financial support for farmers with limited land.

The project aims to increase the number of participating farmers adopting the combination-farming method so that they can earn more than Bt100,000 a year per rai.

Previously, the project focused on rice production, for which it helped increase the yield per rai from an average of 300-400 kilograms to 1,156kg. 

The project also helped boost rice farmers’ incomes from about Bt20,000 per rai to at least Bt100,000.