Japan's Bt1.1-bn agriculture loan
The government of Japan has provided a Bt1.1-billion loan to support Thailand's sufficiency economy and new agricultural theories, with the aim of restoring the degraded environment in four provinces in the Northeast.
Weerachai Nakviboonwong, a land-reform expert at the Agricultural Land Reform Office, said yesterday the loan would be used to repair degraded land in Khon Kaen, Mukdahan, Maha Sarakham and Sakon Nakhon, covering 300,000 rai and 10,000 farmers living in the target areas. The office will encourage the farmers to be more self-reliant through mixed agricultural techniques. They will also have to initiate more sustainable natural-resource management. The office will also help develop water resources by digging 1,260-cubic-metre ponds on farm areas. The idea is to alleviate the water shortage during the summer season. In addition, the project will focus on developing related infrastructure such as roads and underground water reserves. The office will provide a soft-loan programme to farmers as working capital to make them more self-reliant..
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