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King's
Buffalo Bank for Farmers
Story by Tasanee Yawaprapas
Pictures by Uthorm Sriphantha

The pen with the names of the farmers receiving the service from the Buffalo Bank
    "Buffalo bank is a concept in which buffaloes and oxen are put together under a proper accounting system for due maintenance, distribution and rental for various purposes. Following the banking system, it is designed to benefit agriculture while increasing the number of buffaloes."
    "The buffalo babk is a truly new concept that arises from the necessity of the present when machinery is widely used in agribusiness. The rising prices of gasoline make machinery less cost-effective, so farmers have to turn to the animals which they used to rely upon before machinery took over. But the return proves to be problematic, as money is needed to buy buffaloes to work on the fields."
"The buffalo bank is reminiscent of commercial banks which are, by definition, involved in operations of useful and valuable matters. The establishment of buffalo banks, however, does not involve construction of factories to keep buffaloes and oxwen. Only centers are needed. The Livestock Department, for example, can serve the purpose."
"Those who wish to make donations to the bank need not give buffaloes or oxen. The donation can be in the form of money...."
The above is an excerpt from an address given by His Majesty the King to a group of farmers who had been given a royal audience in the grounds of His Majesty's agricultural projects at Chitralada Palce on Farmers's Day, May 14, 1980.
The project was inspired by His Majesty's visit to royal sponsored projects in Prachin Buri Province, where he saw the hardship of poor farmers. The farmers had to rent buffaloes and cows at such exprbitant rates that sometimes they were left penniless after the rent had been deducted from the sales of their produce.
His Majesty thus thought of setting up a buffalo bank to give poor farmers access to buffaloes either by renting or hire-purchase. The first such bank was set up in 1979. Eventually, by order of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, the Livestock Department took over the project.
His Majesty's objective in setting up the buffalo bank is to help raise the living standard of poor farmers, who can buy buffaloes from the bank at reasonable prices or on easy long-term hire-purchase plan. Those in need of buffalo during the planting season can also rent an animal at an inexpensive rate.
Services provided by the bank can be classified into five different categories, as follows:
1. Loan of buffalo for breeding purposes. Under this plan, a poor farmer can borrow a female buffalo from the bank. One year after it has given birth, the farmer can keep the calf and return the mother to the bank, but if he wants to keep the mother so that he can have more calves, he can obtain approval from the bank or the Provincial Livestock Office under the following arrangement: The first, third and fifth calves subsequently born must be given to the bank one year after their birth while the farmer can keep, the second, fourth and sixth for himself.
2. Leasing to enable farmers to own their own buffaloes. The easy, interest-free plan is for farmer to pay for the buffalo within three years: 40 percent the first year, 30 percent the second year, and the remaining 30 percent the third year.
3. Loan of male breeders to villages who have no less than five female buffaloes loaned by the bank for breeding purposes.
4. Buffaloes are rented to till the land at 300 baht a year per head.
5. Farmers wishing to rent livestock for services other than those mentioned above must seek approval from the Provincial Livestock Office or the bank itself.
Farmers wishing to avail themselves of the bank's services must be Thai nationals at least 20years old. They must poor, engaged in agriculture, and be willing to cooperate with bank authorities. They must not have used the service before, and must have the ability to care for the animals. The bank has a screening committee which determines the applicants qualified to receive assistance.
The public can participate in the project by donating buffaloes or money to the bank, which receives requests and distributes donated animals to farmers in various parts of country. Last year, however, 150 farmers from Damnoen Saduak in Ratchaburi Province had been selected to benefit from thr project.
Without exception, all the beneficiaries expressed deep gratitude to His Majesty and pledged that they will do their best to care for the animals. Those who received female buffaloes intend to keep them for breeding.
To date, 24,561 farmers have already benefited from the buffalo bank, most of them farmers in northern and northeastern Thailand. Members of the publice who wish to contribute to the project can contact the Special Project Office, Planning Division, Livestock Department, or call (66 2) 252-6941 or 251-5136-8, extension 191. The Livestock Department is on Phyathai Road, Rajthevi, Bangkok 10400.
King's Buffalo Bank for Farmers, KINNAREE, Thai Airways International Domestic Inflight Magazine, March 1996, P. 89-94.
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