Cabinet approves new rubber subsidies
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The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the national rubber policy committee's proposal to double the fertiliser subsidies to rubber farmers, the scheme which will cost about Bt21.2 billion.
"The amount is equivalent to the subsidies of Bt12 per kg, or Bt2,520 per rai," said Deputy government spokesman Chalitrat Chantharubeksa.
The subsidies will stay for 7 months, or from September 2013 to March 2014.
Earlier, the committee proposed the subsidies at Bt1,260 and it raised the amount to please rubber farmers in the South which are threatening a big rally.
Still, the government declined to intervene in the rubber price, as demanded by the protesters. However, it said that the subsidies would help boost farmers' income and help them gain as much as Bt90 for every kilogram of rubber.
Farmers demanded the price at Bt95 per kg.
It is reported that farmers in the South would meet in Nakhon Si Thammarat this afternoon, to sound out their reaction to the government's measure.
