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BAAC unveils loan schemes to lift standard of living of farmers

BAAC unveils loan schemes to lift standard of living of farmers

The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) has come up with a series of measures to raise the standard of living of farmers.


The bank has formulated a policy to increase the incomes of lower-income farmers by more than 10 per cent a year and ensure their savings are not less than 10 per cent of income. The BAAC will also provide knowledge to farmers on how to increase their agricultural output by more than 20 per cent from the current levels, the bank’s president, Apirom Sukprasert, said at a seminar entitled “Join forces to drive sustainable economic development; Pracharat creates Thailand”, at Impact Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi province on Saturday.
Under the new policy, the BAAC will provide new loans to smart farmers of up to Bt10 billion in 2019 targeting about 100,000 smart farmers and Bt20 billion in 2020 for 200,000 smart farmers at the minimum retail rate. The bank aims to loan Bt30 billion to 300,000 smart farmers in 2021.
The bank also will offer loans to small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises (SMAEs) with an interest rate of 4 per cent per annum in 2019. The target is to disburse some Bt10 billion to 10,000 SMAEs, increasing the amount to Bt20 billion to 20,000 SMAEs in 2020, and loans worth Bt30 billion to 30,000 SMAEs in 2021.
The bank is also offering an interest rate of only 0.01 per cent for Thai communities enterprises and agricultural cooperative, aiming to provide loans worth Bt10 billion to 10,000 communities enterprises, and another Bt10 billion to 1,000 agricultural cooperatives this year.
In 2020, Bt20 billion loans will be provided to 20,000 community enterprises, and Bt20 billion to 1,200 agricultural cooperatives.
In 2021, loans worth Bt40 billion will be on offer to 40,000 community enterprises, and Bt30 billion for 1,500 agricultural cooperatives.
“All these loans are expected to improve the quality of living and increase the incomes of farmers in order to achieve our target,” Apirom said.

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