Agriculture Ministry, FTI work on promoting Thailand as top food exporter
The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry will join hands with the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) to promote Thailand in the post-Covid era as one of the world’s top 10 food exporters in line with the “Modern Industrial Agriculture” development model, Alongkorn Polabutr, adviser to the agriculture minister said on Thursday (July 9).
“Agriculture Minister Chalermchai Sri-on met with FTI chairman Supant Mongkolsuthree and they both agreed to appoint a joint taskforce,” he said. “The taskforce met earlier this month to approve a framework with five aspects, namely production, product processing, marketing, technology and logistics, with an aim to boost product value and farmers’ revenue as well as promote Thailand’s competitiveness in the global market.”
Alongkorn further added that in the early phase, the taskforce will focus on the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) which covers the provinces of Chachoengsao, Rayong and Chonburi. “We will promote five basic cluster groups, or products with geographical proximity, including fruits, fishery products, plants for bio-based products, herbal products and high-value crops such as decorative plants and organic vegetables.
“The project also aims to establish an Agricultural Innovation Centre in all 77 provinces to integrate with the National Agriculture Big Data Centre and FTI’s provincial offices, so an agricultural knowledge base can be built and shared by all related parties,” he added.
Supant, meanwhile, said that FTI has offered the ministry three measures to help promote the agricultural sector during and after the Covid-19 era.
“The first measure is to push for good agricultural practices to become part of national agenda to boost farmers’ revenue, reduce disparity and minimise environmental impact. The second measure is to promote precision agriculture that utilises modern technology on at least 2 million rai of farmland nationwide.
“Lastly, we need to promote the growing of trees with high economic value and rehabilitation of degraded forest that covers almost 40 per cent of the country’s forest lands with functional forest management practices under the Thai Industrial Standard 14061,” the FTI chairman added.