The Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has mapped out measures to assist owners of open poultry farming, to switch to closed farming system.
Free-range poultry ranchers in Thailand are being urged to join a closed farming scheme with the threat of punishment for violators, said Dr Charal Trinvuthipong, Vice Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives.
Nearly 3,500 free range polutry farmers are now registered with the Livestock Development Department, with 3,381 being members of agricultural cooperatives while the remaining 117 not being the members.
Of the total, 1,941 poultry farmers have sought loans from the state-run Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), Dr Charal said, indicating that the bank had already granted loans amounting to almost Bt171.50 million (€3,660,206) to 1,237 farmers. BAAC is now considering extending loans to 223 farmers and has rejected 481 farmers.
Poultry farmers who have not sought loans from the bank or registered themselves with the Livestock Development Department are those who do not fully understand the project or who oppose the scheme, Dr Charal said.