PM asks farmers not to overstate land size

BANGKOK, 21 February 2010 (NNT) – Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has asked farmers not to overstate the size of farmlands to officials when registering for the second phase of the income guarantee scheme.

Speaking in his weekly television program ‘Confidence in Thailand with Prime Minister Abhisit’, the Prime Minister requested farmers to help monitor the public-hearing process in order to not let anyone overstate farmland sizes. He admitted that the total amount of land informed to officials at present was higher than reality.

Prime Minister Abhisit added that he had sought cooperation from the Ministry of Science and Technology to use satellite image to check accuracy of farmlands. Investigation would be made if the reported figure and the satellite image did not match, and that would delay the process, the Prime Minister said.

About 480,000 farmers with a total land area of 9 million rai are expected to join in the second phase of the income guarantee scheme for farmers. The government has endorsed an almost 9 million THB budget for the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to move forward the scheme.