The cabinet has approved 114 billion baht worth of aid for rice farmers, said deputy government spokesman Anukul Pruksanusak.
The funding received the green light during the weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The 114 billion baht will support rice farmers through two major assistance programmes, according to Mr Anukul.
The first programme provides direct financial aid of 1,000 baht per rai, capped at 10 rai per household, to help farmers cope with falling paddy prices. The scheme applies to both off-season (2025) and main-season (2025/2026) rice production.
The second programme seeks to stabilise paddy prices through measures such as credit lines for farmers to delay paddy sales and loans for agricultural institutions to purchase and stockpile paddy.
To implement the 1,000-baht-per-rai measure, the cabinet had to grant an exemption from its earlier May 21, 2023, resolution, which prohibited direct subsidies, compensation, or price guarantees for agricultural products.
For the 2025 off-season crop, 7.28 billion baht will be allocated, benefiting around 861,000 farming households.
For the 2025/2026 main-season crop, 37.9 billion baht will be set aside, with the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) offering advance payments.
Meanwhile, the paddy price stabilisation programme for the 2025/2026 production year was approved with a budget of 61.6 billion baht.
It will cover three projects: a credit programme to delay the sale of paddy; a loan programme for agricultural institutions to purchase paddy and add value, with a total budget of 15.65 billion baht; and an interest compensation programme for rice traders who stockpile paddy, with a budget of 642 million baht. The measures aim to ease the financial burden on farmers while stabilising the rice market.
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