Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said yesterday that the domestic supply of rice is low during the dry season, so the Rice Management Policy Committee has approved the third sale of broken rice this year.

Among the 1.2 million tonnes to be auctioned off are 870,000 tonnes of broken white rice.

The rest is broken rice of other kinds.

To systemise the plantation of riceberry, the ministry has initiated a project called “Riceberry Valley” so that the government can control production quality and help farmers reduce costs after grouping.

Chutima Bunyapraphasara, permanent secretary of the ministry, said this project should help ensure the good quality of riceberry crops and increase the output of this grain, which is known for its high nutrition value.

“Nowadays, there are about 5,000 rai for riceberry growing. After the project is launched this year, plantation areas for riceberry are expected to double to 10,000 rai next year,” she said.

The project to promote integrated riceberry farming should help cut the cost of production for farmers and increase the supply of this rice grain following higher demand in many markets.

Riceberry is raised in the Northeast and some provinces in the North and in the Central region.

About 17 groups of riceberry farmers have been integrated in 13 provinces to date.

Following the integration of riceberry farming, the government should be able to control the quality of rice growing and ensure that the rice is organic.

Besides rice, the ministry will also encourage the farming of other crops as organic products under the Organic Village project.

This project will be developed under the new organic product promotion strategy from 2017-2021 .

In a bid to promote Thailand as Asean’s organic production centre, the ministry will host the sixth Organic and Natural Expo – the biggest showcase of organic farms and products at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.