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Published on August 15, 2007

The Cabinet meeting yesterday approved a new project to support farmers in raising Thai-bred cows and buffaloes, replacing the previous administration's suspended "Cows for One Million Families" project.

Deputy Social Development and Human Security minister Poldej Pinpratheep said the scheme would be on a voluntary basis and would allow farmers to own the animals.

The Cabinet ordered the old project to be evaluated and terminated.

Government spokesman Yongyuth Mayalarp said the Cabinet approved in principle the Agriculture Ministry's proposal to promote Thai-bred cows and buffaloes and accepted Deputy Prime Minister Kosit Panpiemras' suggestion that a pilot scheme should be run first and the Budget Bureau should consider budget details.

Regarding the "Cows for One Million Families" scheme, the ministry proposed that the Livestock Development Department and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) take care of 10,883 farmers who were given 21,688 cows until they sell the cows and complete the contracts, according to Yongyuth. He said the Cabinet also assigned the ministry to oversee the BAAC operation and to evaluate the project.

Yongyuth said the "Cows for One Million Families" project that began in 2005 had problems such as unrealistic goals and operational issues that did not respond to farmers' needs. The farmers wanted female animals so that they could own calves, but the project provided them with males instead.

The new scheme will focus on connections with cow raisers' networks and support them in borrowing money from financial institutions such as the BAAC. When the farmers sell the animals, they will not have to pay fees to the Thai Farmers' Business Promotion Co.

The project will start next year and run until 2010. Farmers can borrow money from banks to buy two to four animals per family, a source at Agriculture Ministry said.

The budget is Bt458 million plus another Bt630 million for farmers' loans, the source added.