Excerpts from a study by Zulfiqar Ali Mustafa, K.

Mujeri and
Badrunnesa Ahmed, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)

people to produce crops, which are suitable for a specific

region, with the help of meteorological statistics.
Disaster-affected farmers get

Agricultural Development in Thailand

In Thailand, the activities of Bank for Agriculture and
Agricultural Cooperative (BAAC) at Bang Beng district
in Chonburi province and Khlong Luang in Pathum
Thani provinceare noteworthy BAAC covers almost all
95 per cent of the total farm households in Thailand
(Source: www.baac.or.th).

subsidy right after the agriculture department conducts

surveys and submits their results to the provincial governor.
The Thai government and BAAC jointly pay insurance
claims. Disaster-hit farmers get soft loans, and they
reschedule their outstanding ones. Rice, maize and other crop
producers get crop insurance facility.

For smooth lending of money all kinds of banks, financing

institutions and private companies preserve the national
identification numbers of all Thai farmers. If anyone goes to
any lending organisation to borrow money, the officials
concerned can identify the borrower's status. Thus the system
operates with a harmonised national database.

BAAC has 'funeral associations', which consist of BAAC

beneficiaries and also the people out of its periphery. As per
the funeral regulation, members subscribe a fixed premium
every year as per their age-groups. If anyone dies after giving
a certain premium, inheritors will get the full payment of
policy (what the person has deposited; and the remaining
amount to be paid by all the association members). It is
executed by a funeral association executive committee.

In Thailand, BAAC has many deposit projects (Muslim

Pilgrim Scheme, periodical and non-periodical saving deposit
system for all levels of people etc). Banks disburse coupons
to the clients as per their deposit balance. The banks
encourage savings by promoting 'lucky draws' every six
months at district and nation levels. They award cash, cars,
motorbikes, domestic goods etc. Encouraging the Thai
people's savings deposit habit is a pragmatic way of attracting
them to sustainable socio-economic development process.

Thailand is now standing on three pillars of development,

which are manufacturing, agriculture and tourism. Many
international companies are investing in the manufacturing
sector. Thai people are educated by around 93 per cent. Only
3 per cent unemployed educated people are there, and their
per capita income is about fifteen thousand US dollars. Many
tourists from all around the globe visit Thailand every year.
Security in Thailand for tourists and natives are high.
Shopping malls, hotels and easy transport systems are
available everywhere. People are cooperative and hospitable.

BAAC controls and provides support to the Agricultural

Marketing Cooperative (AMC). AMC supplies quality seeds,
fertilisers and pesticides, financial and technical supports for
agricultural production; and facilitates collaboration between
factories and wholesale markets to provide the optimum price
for the agro-products through a responsive
value chain process. After harvesting
agro-products, the farmers process them into
many grades and sell them in markets.
Their storage management is also directly
controlled by BAAC. BAAC plays a vital role
in maintaining cordial relationship among
farmers, producers and consumers through
AMC. Moreover, BAAC provides financial
support to AMC to help produce agro-based
processed foods and sell them in the national
market. With backing from BAAC, AMC
supervises the agro-product grading systems,
price tagging on the goods and laboratory
testing system before marketing.
In Thailand, farmers enjoy the crop insurance
policy. The agricultural department suggests

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