The bank will also take into account the impact on natural resources such as forests, Thirapong said.

Farmers will be persuaded to abandon the garlic and longan crops which are currently suffering from oversupply and high competition from China, he said.

The state-owned BAAC will also carefully extend new loans to support the plantation of oil palm. The government wants to expand palm production to use the oil as a raw material in the production of bio-diesel.

Thirapong, however, said expansion of oil-palm plantations could put high pressure on natural forests. The authorities may have to limit the scale of oil-palm farming for bio-diesel production in order to mitigate the impact on forest conservation, he said.

The BAAC chief recently led reporters to the southern province of Krabi to visit an integrated farm management project in which a group of farmers produce a range of commodities on limited land.

Sanguan Mongolsripanlert, who leads his Ban Khao Klom community of goat- raisers, said his group was able to produce high-quality goat meat, animal feed bio-fertiliser, oil-palm nuts and rubber sheets.

He explained that the group had to overcome limited land resources. As their small plots are used for planting rubber and oil palms, they do not have spare pastures for goats.

The group solved the problem by making their own animal feed, with palm leaves and nuts as the main ingredients. They introduced machinery and indigenous micro-organisms to produce the feed and green manure.

Moreover, their farms are chemical-free.

The market offered high prices for their herd of goats, said Sanguan, who has a vocational-education background and won a national award as an outstanding livestock farmer last year.

The number of farmers in his group reached 28 this year, rearing 1,143 goats between them.

Thirapong said the number of educated farmers had risen recently among the BAAC's five million clients. Experienced and educated farmers are expected to lead to higher productivity in farming and lower loan risks for the bank.

Krabi's Ban Nateen community, led by Bancha Kheawluk, has in recent years operated a home-stay tourist business.

This has added to the strength of the group, whose members engage in ocean fishing, rubber farming, and making hand-made souvenirs for tourists.

During their home-stays, visitors have the opportunity to go fishing and sightseeing in the Andaman Sea, harvest latex from rubber trees, make souvenirs from coconut husks, and observe the traditional Muslim village's way of life.

Ban Nateen villagers take advantage of their prime location close to tourist attractions. Home-stay tourism brings in additional income for their community and also serves as a market window for their handicrafts.

Wichit Chaitrong

The Nation