Cooperative Promotion Department instructed to urgently support fruit production
Agricultural and Cooperatives Deputy Minister Mananya Thaiset has ordered the Cooperative Promotion Department to support and promote fruit production to tackle the impact on the fruit trade amid the Covid-19 coronavirus.
“This is an urgent measure,” she said. “Fruits should be distributed widely and rapidly under market mechanisms and the cooperatives network nationwide, preventing an oversupply.”
Mananya said the cooperatives that produce fruit will collect and distribute the products to large cooperatives or ones with distribution centres. The operation will last six months – from April to September.
“Some 80,000 tonnes of fruits will be distributed through the cooperatives and include 40,000 tonnes of durian, 20,000 tonnes of mangosteen and another 20,000 of longans,” she said.
The deputy minister will request Bt414.2 million from the government to support the plan, and plans to organise a fruit-promotion campaign in sixteen provinces, including Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Songkhla and Bangkok.