THE Thai government is donating 1000 tonnes of rice valued at about US$277,000 to villagers in Shan State, the Royal Thai Embassy in Yangon said last week.

The assistance, which will benefit about 200,000 villagers, is being given as part of Thailand’s support for Myanmar’s poppy eradication campaign, according to a press statement issued by the embassy on March 1.

The Thai government fully appreciates and supports the efforts and measures undertaken by the Myanmar government to cope with the regional drug problem, the statement said.

The first delivery of 200 tonnes of rice was made on March 1 at the office of the United Nations World Food Program in Tachileik, Shan State, in order to supplement the insufficient income caused by the cessation of poppy farming activities.

Subsequent deliveries of 200 tonnes each will take place every 10 days.

The first secretary of the Thai Embassy in Yangon, Ms Jirusaya Birananda, told the Myanmar Times that the rice donation was the first to Myanmar by the Thai government.

She said the assistance will help to prevent the resumption of poppy cultivation and thus have a positive effect on joint efforts by Myanmar and Thailand to suppress narcotic problems in the region.