Agriculture will not be opened up to foreigners

"If foreign investors want to ensure their food security, they should focus on trading under a contract rather than investing here," director-general Kanissorn Navanugraha said.

Under the Foreign Business Act, it is impossible for a majority foreign-owned venture to operate here in the farming sector, but Thailand is developing itself to be a major food supplier to the world, he said.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, early this month asked for details of the government's policy on possibly opening up agriculture to foreigners.

To ensure that foreign companies would not exploit loopholes in the law to invest in farming, those involved in farming here will be stringently investigated for any breaches of the Act.

The department targets 1,500 companies registered to conduct agriculture-related businesses with foreign shareholdings of less than 49.99 per cent.

Of these, about 300 have been randomly inspected and no firms were found to be violating the law.

Of all 549,945 companies registered in the country, more than 60,000 have foreign shareholders.

The department, in cooperation with the Department of Special Investigation, the Lands Department and the Agriculture Ministry, will continue to check the remaining companies to make sure that no foreign investors hold more than 50 per cent in firms on the protected lists.

The Foreign Business Act includes three lists of protected businesses deemed critical to national security and subject to degrees of protection, with Annex I the most protected.

The nine businesses categorised under Annex I are newspapers, radio or television broadcasting, rice farming, farming or gardening, animal farming, forestry and wood fabrication from natural forests, fisheries using marine animals in Thai waters and within Thailand's specific economic zones, extraction of Thai herbs, trading and auctioning of Thai antiques or national historical objects, making or casting Buddha images and monk alms bowls, and land trading.

Under the Act, any foreigner, being granted a licence to operate any business, who takes part in a business not permitted to operate under this act or operates a business jointly owned by others to avoid or violate the provisions of the Act, will be punished by imprisonment up to three years and/or a fine of Bt100,000-Bt1 million.