There are about 1.7 million buffalo in Thailand and the department aims to increase that by 30,000 to 50,000 a year with artificial insemination technology, he said. The department officials will be sent out to hastily collect buffalo semen, which will be frozen.

Yukol said he was confident that targets would be met in three years.

The beasts will be raised in the Northeast and North, where most buffalo farmers are concentrated.

A shift in emphasis from conservation to profit making would also be brought about by the project, Yukol said, so as to let the 400,000 buffalo-raising families make a living.

The department also drew up plans to set up a network of support bodies to link the 100-odd buffalo farming groups across the country. These farmers' groups had the potential to help boost the buffalo numbers as they know how to care for the animals, use their labour in farm work and make fertiliser from their dung, he said.

With two or three buffalo, a farmer could fertilise up to 20 rai of rice fields, saving Bt8,000 to Bt10,000 a year in fertiliser bills.