The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) has announced plans to develop smart solutions for helping farmers increase production and efficiency. The bank is currently working on the launch of a three-year soft loan scheme worth USD 1.8 billion which can serve as revolving capital and carry an annual interest rate of 4%.
In a recent partnership, the bank joined collaborated with The FIGnature, a fig farm in Chon Buri. The bank joined forces with Thailand’s National Electronics and Computer Technology Center and the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) to help the company design a smart greenhouse with light control capacity suitable for fig plantation.
The bank also recently teamed up with the engineering faculty of Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus, to develop a device to analyze Monthong durian in order to accurately predict if they are mature enough for sale.
In another initiative, BAAC partnered with the Digital Economy Promotion Agency, telecom company DTAC, and other players to pilot what it calls the Handy Sense project, a system that can measure key parameters that are vital to plant growth. The system uses sensors to detect temperature, soil humidity and light intensity on a real-time basis, and aims to help farmers reduce water usage by 5-10%, while increasing production capacity by 20%.
(Sources: Bangkok Post)