BANGKOK, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chiang Mai province in northern Thailand on Wednesday launched a Lanna Thai Coffee Hub campaign to promote the production and sales of quality coffee beans.
In a press conference, Chiang Mai provincial governor Pavin Chamniprasart said the five-year campaign, set to begin next year, will be run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives' Provincial Agricultural Office in Chiang Mai in cooperation with Chiang Mai University's Agriculture Faculty.
Coffee plantations will be expanded throughout Chiang Mai and neighboring provinces to produce quality coffee beans for sales to domestic and export markets, Pavin said.
The Lanna Thai Coffee Hub campaign was designed to promote and expand environmentally-friendly coffee plantations in 19 out of a total of 25 districts of Chiang Mai as well as in neighboring provinces, he said.
Lanna Thai coffee beans were designed to become one of Thailand's top-selling farm goods by 2022, according to the provincial governor.
Chiang Mai has had some 7,000 acres (28 square kilometers) of coffee plantations which yielded more than 3,848 tons of coffee beans last season.
