To help unload rice amid falling prices, the government has teamed up with retailers and online shopping providers to promote direct sales of the staple food.
Banjongjitt Angsusingh, director-general of the Business Development Department, said the Commerce Ministry is cooperating with the Thai Retailers and Wholesalers Association to allow small farmers to sell their grain at 1,000 shopping outlets nationwide.
For farmers who are capable of milling and packing their own rice, those retailers and wholesalers also agreed to buy that rice for sale to consumers.
Nukul Samakayanusorn, secretary-general of the Thai Retailers and Wholesalers Association, said the association has also partnered with suppliers to buy rice from farmers to be used as New Year's presents to their customers.
Mrs Banjongjitt said the department also allows farmers without their own websites to sell their goods online through its site, ThaiCommerceStore.com.
For farmers with their own websites and social media accounts such as Facebook, the department will also link ThaiCommerceStore.com to their websites and personal accounts.
Mr Banjongjitt said both online and offline distribution channels are expected to ease the plight of rice farmers in the short term.
In the long run, he said the department plans to help farmers develop their rice packaging capabilities and boost standards.
The cabinet on Tuesday approved a fresh rice subsidy programme worth 18 billion baht for farmers who grow white rice and Pathum Thani fragrant paddy and store it in barns for a designated period.
Under the programme, 7,000 baht per tonne will be paid to white rice paddy growers and 7,800 baht to those who grow Pathum Thani fragrant rice.
Growers of both rice varieties will also receive 1,500 baht for storage costs and 2,000 baht for harvesting and quality improvement.
Most of the farmers who grow these two kinds of rice are in the Central Plains.
As for those who do not have barns, the government will encourage growers in the Central Plains to contact agriculture cooperatives in their areas for ways to store rice.
Unlike farmers in the Northeast, most of the rice farmers in the Central Plains have no barns for storing rice because they usually sell it immediately after harvest.
The government last week launched a subsidy scheme worth more than 20 billion baht to help Hom Mali farmers suffering from falling rice prices in the North and Northeast, sparking anger among farmers from other parts of the country who grow different strains and want equal treatment.
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