Thai silk industry to support aging, underprivileged population

BANGKOK, December 29 (TNA) - The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives plans to work together with other relevant government agencies to support the elderly and the underprivileged, covering persons with disabilities (PWDs), to earn their living in the Thai silk industry in the long run. Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Wiwad Sanyakamthorn told journalists on Friday that the Queen Sirikit Department of Sericulture, under his ministry, plans to soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with other relevant agencies, including those under the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, to support the country's aging, physically-challenged and other underprivileged population to work in comprehensive processes of the Thai silk industry in order to earn their living on the sustainable basis. Wiwad said planned measures to support the local elderly and the underprivileged include promoting the elderly to gather and form in groups in their separate areas to grow mulberry trees in which they can sell mulberry leaves and get silkworms for sale and for the production of Thai silk fabric and clothes. According to the deputy minister, the move is in line with the government's 12th National Economic and Social Development Plan (2017-2021), as Thailand is approaching the aging society by 2021 when the number of the local elderly should increase to about 20 per cent of the country's total population of over 68 million. The deputy minister pointed out that in the farm sector alone, local Thai farmers who are 55 years old or older should account for about 60 per cent of the total farmers in the country by 2021. (TNA)