Thailand military Government - National Council of Peace and Order (NCPO) – has announced a “Cultivation rice subsidy” programme and soft loans to help rice farmers in the 2014/15 crop season, following the recent completion of the outstanding payments to farmers under the previous’ Government rice pledging scheme (October 2013 - February 2014). The cultivation subsidy will be around 500 baht per rai, or 3,125 baht (around USD 96) per hectare for farmers with up to 15 rai of land, or 2.4 hectares per family, based on an average estimated annual cultivation costs of about 4,000 baht per rai, or 25,000 baht (around USD 769) per hectare. With an average paddy yield of 2.85 per hectare the subsidy is equivalent to about USD 34 per tonne of paddy. Additionally, the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) would cut loan interest by about 3 percent and extend low-interest loans for six additional months. The two measures will still need to be approved by the Government.