The Department of Cooperative Promotion organized the 52nd anniversary of its founding, moving forward with the use of cooperative mechanisms to drive the policy of ‘Market-led, Innovation-enhanced, Increased Income for Cooperative Members’ in accordance with the policy of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, as well as setting a goal to solve cooperative members’ debts to at least 25% of NPL debt.
Mr. Wisit Srisuwan, Director-General of the Cooperative Promotion Department, presided over the ceremony of offering a wreath to pay homage to the monument of His Royal Highness Prince Pithayalongkorn, the Father of Thai Cooperatives, as well as the 4th merit-making ceremony, offering morning food to 10 monks.
The Director-General of the Cooperative Promotion Department read a message from Assoc. Prof. Dr. Narumon Pinyosinwat, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, and then gave a policy for work to the personnel of the Cooperative Promotion Department, saying that the department will drive the polic
y of ‘Market-led, Innovation-enhanced, Increased Income for Cooperative Members’, which is an important policy of the government and the Ministry of Agriculture.
For the 2025 operational plan, the department focuses on enhancing the potential of farmer groups and agricultural cooperatives to be strong by using technological innovations, creating high-precision agriculture systems, smart agriculture farms in large-scale agricultural areas to increase production efficiency, increase the amount of yield per rai, develop quality and safety of produce, and promote cost reduction. In addition, it will promote and develop cooperative stores to be distribution points for agricultural products both directly and online to be strong, and push for the network linkage between agricultural cooperatives and non-agricultural cooperatives. The department is also committed to developing the personnel of the Department of Cooperative Promotion to be strong in order to perform the duty of improving the quality of life of cooper
ative members.
The Director-General of the Cooperative Promotion Department emphasized another important measure to be accelerated, which is to solve the debt problem of cooperative members, by setting a target of at least 25% of NPL debt, and also aiming to promote the overall business volume of cooperatives to increase by no less than 3%. In addition, cooperatives with accumulated losses must be rehabilitated to have a profit of 25%, and cooperatives and farmer groups will be developed to have a strength of level 1 and level 2, increasing from the previous year by no less than 2%.
The Department of Cooperative Promotion was established in 1972 as an important agency of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, which has the power and duty to promote, support, advise, supervise and supervise the cooperative system of Thailand under the vision of ‘Stability of cooperatives, Strong cooperatives and farmer groups, Sustainable community economy and society’.
At present, Thailand has 7 types of cooperative
s: agricultural cooperatives, settlement cooperatives, fishery cooperatives, store cooperatives, service cooperatives, credit union cooperatives, and savings cooperatives. Cooperatives are one of the agricultural institutions that play a role in developing the potential of their members, creating strength in both the economy and society. Therefore, it is the duty of the personnel of the Department of Cooperative Promotion to drive, push, and create knowledge for cooperatives in terms of production, management, marketing, and digital innovation in order to develop the potential of cooperatives to be strong organizations that can help solve problems for members and truly improve their quality of life.
Source: Thai News Agency