PUBLISHED: 18 May 2024 at 04: 00
In a pay to add more benefit to this type of property, deputy state official Karom Polpornklang reported yesterday that the government had reached an in-principle agreement on a proposal to relax the restrictions on the management of state land offered to impoverished farmers for agricultural purposes only.
The fact that this land could n’t change hands, in contrast to other types of land, is a common hindrance, he said, preventing the Agricultural Land Reform Office ( Alro ) land from progressing further.
According to Mr. Karom, possession of Alro area offered to one impoverished producer who fails to recover his debts after using the land as collateral for bank loans will in the future be allowed to get transferred to a different producer who is eligible to receive Alro land and agrees to make the unpaid debts.
The Office of the National Land Policy Board ( ONLPB) and other relevant offices will be mapping out details of this project after it has received preliminary cabinet approval on Tuesday, he said.
Despite the proposed relaxation of Alro land regulations, he said, the fundamental principle for managing Alro land must still be upheld.
A number of law and regulation changes, according to Mr. Karom, will be carried out as part of the cabinet-approved proposal, that will allow Alro land to be used for other purposes deemed necessary, he added.
He stated that the precise ratio of using specific plots of Alro land for agricultural purposes and for other purposes will be decided later, and that the additional Alro land utilisation that will be permitted will vary from one area to another.
Farmers who own Alro land will gain from this flexibility because the value of the land will rise, which will allow them to apply for more agricultural loans from financial institutions, the deputy spokesman added.