Agriculture Ministry seeks 3.2-bn baht to restore flood-hit farms
The minister will take the request to the Cabinet on Tuesday now that the operations centre for flood and storm victims has approved it
The Agriculture Ministry plans to seek 3.2 billion baht from the central budget to help rehabilitate farms hit by recent floods nationwide.
Ministry spokesman Ekkapap Polsue said on Monday that Agriculture Minister Narumon Pinyosinwat will ask the Cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday to allocate funds to help farmers affected by the floods.
The spokesman said the request was sent for consideration earlier on Monday to the operations centre for helping floods and storm victims, led by Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai.
A source later said that the request was approved by the Phumtham-led centre, so it would definitely be tabled at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The Interior Ministry’s Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department had reported that from July 17 to October 10, 52 provinces were hit by flooding and that 23 provinces have returned to normalcy so far.
The Agriculture Ministry believes about 1.28 million rai (about 204,800 hectares) of farmland had been damaged by floods from July 14 to September 27. It has surveyed 1.09 million rai or just over 85% of the affected farmland.
The spokesman added that the minister wanted the rest of the affected farmland to be surveyed soon and that it will cooperate with the Interior Ministry to speed up the survey.
Ekkapap said Narumon also wanted to reduce the processing time for handling the compensations to 45 days from 60.
He said the 3.2 billion baht will be used to restore flood-hit farmland, while affected farmers will receive additional compensation from provincial administrations using funds allocated for emergencies.
He said the Agricultural Extension Department will coordinate with the Interior Ministry to ensure provincial administrations pay the compensation to affected farmers.
Piraphan Khothong, director-general of the Agricultural Extension Department, said most of the affected farms were paddy fields, adding that an initial survey shows that about 1.2 million rai of rice fields have been damaged.
He said rice farmers will be granted compensation of 1,340 baht per rai, farmers of short-term crops will be given 1,980 baht per rai, while fruit orchards or owners of big trees will be given 4,048 baht per rai. Each farming family will be compensated for no more than 30 rai.
