The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is buying up paddy of Hom Mali fragrant rice from farmers throughout the country, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Sarikalya said yesterday, adding that the paddy bought from farmers would be milled and packaged for sale.
“Consumers will be able to buy quality rice obtained directly from farmers,” he said, with orders available through the Marketing Organisation for Farmers (MOF) website, Ortorkor.com.
Chatchai said that the MOF would also hold a “Thai Rice Festival to Help Farmers” as a channel to distribute the rice output onto the market. The festival will be held from this Saturday to November 23, according to MOF director Kamolwit Kaewfak, who said that there would be a campaign for state agencies, businesses and members of the public to give rice as New Year presents.
Cooperative Promotion Department director-general Vinaroj Supsongsuk said yesterday that rice produced under this urgent project would be sold through the agency’s 24 main distribution centres and 120 smaller centres throughout the country.
Meanwhile, Kasetsart University has allowed farmers to sell their rice inside its Bang Khen campus, rector Chongrak Wachrinrat said. The move follows a project that encouraged students whose parents are farmers to sell their rice directly to consumers.
“The university has come up with measures aimed at relieving the farmers’ problems. We are also discussing ways to help farmers in the long term,” Chongrak said.
Kasetsart is the country’s first agricultural university and its third oldest, after Chulalongkorn and Thammasat.
Provincial authorities also have started providing marketplaces for local farmers to sell their rice directly to consumers.
Kanchanaburi yesterday launched its “rice market” project at the Provincial Hall, where residents can buy rice directly from the local farmers.
Provincial governor Sak Somboonto, who presided over the opening ceremony, said the project would allow rice farmers and consumers to meet directly, without the need for middlemen.
Also yesterday, groups of farmers in various provinces began selling their rice directly to consumers at Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus in Pathum Thani.
Farmers from Suphan Buri and Uthai Thani sold various rice types at prices ranging from Bt30 to Bt70 a kilogram, which is much higher than the prices offered by middlemen.
Kanokporn Ditkrachan, a farmer from Suphan Buri, said that her organic rice could sell very well at the marketplace inside the campus. “There are lots of people here who want to buy our rice to help farmers,” she said.