Illustrative image (Photo: Internet) Bangkok (VNA) - The Thai Ministry of Commerce has teamed up with the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to drive a marketing-led production strategy, aiming to upgrade Thailand into a hub of quality agricultural products and food.
According to the local media, the two ministries also agreed to set up four working groups chaired by their permanent secretaries to supervise four key missions to achieve the strategy. The ministries want to jointly develop a single big data system for agricultural products and establish a central digital platform for agriculture.
They are also committed to building up confidence in the quality, food safety and traceability of Thai farm products, while developing workforce and products to serve market demand for both offline and online channels.
Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said the strategy will focus largely on crops, livestock, fisheries, processed agriculture and agricultural services, with the development done mainly through mega-farms, cooperatives, community enterprises, innovation, food safety and technology. He said the ministry wants to promote contract farming and counter-trade on a domestic and global level.
Viroj NaRanong, research director for health and agriculture policy at Thailand Development Research Institute, said to deal with global price competition, Thailand should focus on research and development of key economic crops./.
