Thailand's farm sector grows well in 2017

BANGKOK, August 30 (TNA) - The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives reports that Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) in the farm sector has grown well in 2017, exceeding 11 per cent year-on-year in the first half of the year. Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya told journalists on Wednesday that Thailand's GDP in the agricultural sector expanded by 11.5 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2017, with planting zones alone expanding 15.5 per cent year-on-year. General Chatchai noted that his ministry's figure in the Thai farm sector growth during the January-June period is in line with the latest assessment of the Office of National Economic and Social Development that recently stated that the national economy grew at 3.7 per cent in the second quarter of the year, with the farm sector alone growing by 15.8 per cent and the non-farm sector by 2.7 per cent. Meanwhile, the ministry's Royal Irrigation Department said that there were 112 localities in five provinces of Kalasin, Roi-Et, Yasothon, Ubon Ratchathani and Ayutthaya flooded by heavy downpours, caused by the impact of the Pakhar storm, during August 26-29, implying that the farm sector in the affected areas could have been partly damaged by the inundation. (TNA)