Alro secretary-general Anant Phoositthikul said a memorandum of understanding had been signed with Agriculture Power Industry, Boonanek and Cassava Land to encourage farmers in Ubon Ratchathani, Si Sa Ket, Yasothon, Nakhon Ratchasima, Kamphaeng Phet and Nakhon Sawan to grow cassava. The project will plant 400,000 rai, which should provide enough to produce 1.75 million litres of ethanol a day.

The farmers will be paid Bt1,500 a tonne.

Agriculture Power Industry has been granted a licence to set up an ethanol plant with a capacity of 700,000 litres a day.

Boonanek, another ethanol-manufacturer, will have a capacity of 1.05 million litres a day. The company plans to start manufacturing in the first quarter of next year and forecasts cassava demand of two million tonnes.

Anant said Alro would also provide soft loans to farmers in the form of credit lines of up to Bt150,000 each.

The project aims to make farmers increase productivity to meet demand, to which end private companies will work with the Agricultural Extension Depart-ment and the Land Development Department to provide knowledge and technology.

This is expected to result in an additional five tonnes of cassava per rai, though farmers will have to spend more on high-quality cassava.