Bangkok: Dairy farmers rejoiced as the Cabinet approved a 600 million baht budget from the Rehabilitation Fund to help the Dairy Farming Promotion Organization of Thailand (DPO) with its liquidity. This followed Deputy Minister Watcharapol's promise to handle the paperwork and discuss the matter with all relevant agencies to alleviate the farmers' hardship.

According to Thai News Agency, Mr. Watcharapol Khaokham, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, gave an interview after the Cabinet meeting regarding the approval of funds from the Farmer Relief Fund to implement the raw milk purchase project for the Dairy Farming Promotion Organization of Thailand (DPO). He stated that this money comes from the Agricultural Rehabilitation Fund, which the previous government had the idea of using to improve the DPO's liquidity. He received complaints from several dairy cooperatives that they lacked the funds to pay for raw milk and had discussed solutions with many of them, leading to today's approval of the budget from the Agricultural Rehabilitation Fund to assist dairy farmers.

However, the rehabilitation fund has a total balance of over 2 billion baht. Withdrawing 600 million baht will not cause any negative impact. Regarding the dairy cooperative's earlier statement about blocking roads on April 21st, I negotiated with farmer representatives on April 19th, assuring them that I would handle the paperwork myself and speak with all relevant agencies, explaining that this matter would alleviate the farmers' hardship. Today, the Cabinet has approved it, and I must congratulate the dairy farmers. As for when the payments will be made, there are procedures in place, but I believe it won't be delayed.