Even though a mere 500,000 farmers have joined the government's three-year debt repayment extension scheme, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) believes 80-90% of the 3.81 million qualified farmers will participate by the time the registration period ends in December.
There is ample time left until December, said Sarayut Yimyoun, the bank's executive vice-president.
The cabinet in July approved the financial assistance measures for farmers to help shore up the agricultural sector.
In the first of the two measures, 3.81 million BAAC borrowers are allowed to reschedule their principal repayment for three years from Aug 1, 2018 to July 31, 2021.
Farmers who want to take part in the project are required to submit applications to the BAAC by Dec 31, 2018.
Participating farmers are required to repay interest at least once a year during the three-year grace period.
For the other measure, the government cut lending rates for one year for small-scale farmers between Aug 1 this year to July 31, 2019, covering only the first 300,000 baht lent. The state will cover 2.5% of the interest rate, while BAAC shoulders 0.5%.
The subsidy programme is estimated to cost 16.3 billion baht, 2.71 billion of which will be allocated from the fiscal 2018 budget for the first two months (Aug 1-Sept 31) of this year. The remaining 13.6 billion baht for the last 10 months will be from the fiscal 2019 budget.
Small farmers are required to pay normal interest rates for loans that exceed the 300,000-baht limit.
Mr Sarayut said farmers who take part in the debt repayment rescheduling can negotiate with the bank to further extend the repayment period.
The state's principal debt repayment scheme for farmers differs from the one launched by the Thaksin Shinawatra government, which allowed farmers to suspend paying both principal and interest.
The state-backed farm bank has sharply cut its new-loan target for this financial year to 250 billion baht from 750 billion, in anticipation of declining loan demand after the government approved in principle the extension of debt repayment and lower lending rates for small-scale farmers.
