Separately, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday that the government would allocate an additional budget for rubber planters to process their latex into rubber sheets or blocks so that they could add value to the commodity.

The government is buying rubber sheets at a price of Bt45 per kilogram, with a lower purchasing price for rubber blocks and latex.

The price-support scheme was intended to procure up to 100,000 tonnes for use by various agencies, but so far only 70 tonnes have been bought.

Deputy Defence Minister Udomdej Sitabutr said agencies under his ministry have proposed to buy 12,000 tonnes of rubber sheet for about Bt1.6 billion to help to shore up domestic rubber prices and alleviate planters’ economic hardships.

Some farmers in the southern province of Satun have complained that local authorities were not following the guidelines of the government programme, as they had not been able to sell latex at the price of Bt42 per kilogram as had been stipulated.

A local farmer added that the programme was impractical for planters who lived in remote areas because of the inconvenience of visiting a bank to receive payments.

Surajit Indarachit, an Agriculture Ministry official overseeing the programme in Trang and other southern provinces, said rain in several provinces had discouraged farmers from selling rubber in the first two days of the programme.

In the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani, not many farmers were reported to be selling to the government, which is authorised to purchase up to 150 kilograms from each farmer who had registered in the scheme.