The latest government intervention programmes are worth close to Bt60 billion, allowing farmers to store rice paddy in their own barns and get low-interest loans from the government. If they do not have barns, they may store their rice paddy in facilities provided by the government.
Once market prices recover from the current 10-year low of Bt6,000 to 7,000 per tonne, farmers have a choice of selling their crop at a better price. However, the government has indicated that it will not encourage farmers to grow more rice due to the current tendency to over-produce, as well as the existing huge government-owned rice inventory carried forward from the previous government’s rice-pledging scheme.