The Pheu Thai Party has reaffirmed its plan to shore up rubber prices as it met farmers in Thung Song district of Nakhon Si Thammarat on Thursday.
The party's leading figures took their campaign to the district, a key logistical centre located between the Andaman and the Gulf of Thailand.
The party says it is tailoring its campaign policies to southern voters based on input from labour groups there.
On Thursday, labour groups told the party tapping and selling rubber was the only source of income for most families in the district. The low rubber prices have kept them from making ends meet.
Despite a sufficient supply of rubber, road connectivity and more warehouses were needed for the effective distribution of the commodity. The groups also asked Pheu Thai to upgrade Thung Song to a province if the party forms the next government.
Srettha Thavisin, a Pheu Thai prime ministerial candidate, said when the party was in power, it tried to negotiate with the world's major rubber producers to maintain high rubber prices.
The party also supports technological innovations that increase latex yields, he said.
He said the country's exports must be promoted overseas to help open up new markets such as the Middle East and Africa.
Mr Srettha said even though the party never won a seat in the South while it was in power, the Pheu Thai-led administration was committed to working for the benefit of the region and its residents.
Kitchen allure
The Bhumjaithai Party is confident of securing a clean sweep in Mae Hong Son by offering to turn the upper northern province into the main supplier of farm produce for the "Thai Global Kitchen" project, it said.
At a campaign stop in the province's central stadium on Thursday, party leader Anutin Charnvirakul said the party had designed an election policy specifically for the province.
Nanthiya Wongwanich, Bhumjaithai's candidate in Constituency 1, told the crowd of supporters the party would boost employment and income while also widening people's access to public health facilities. The mountainous province is hard to reach in many places.
She added the transport network, telecommunications, and farming sector would all be upgraded. At the same time, fine dust pollution in the region would be reduced, she noted.
Bhumjaithai supervises the public health and transport ministries.
The candidate said the party has figured out ways to designate land in the province for growing organic fruit and vegetables to be supplied as fresh ingredients for cooking Thai food overseas under the "Thai Global Kitchen" project.
The province will also be marketed as a cultural tourism destination with abundant natural landscapes, she said.
Workers upgrade
The Nation Building Labour Party (NLP) has vowed to provide permanent jobs to temporary employees in the state sector if it is able to form the next government.
NLP leader Manas Kosol said the party has been compiling input from workers nationwide, who are its main target in terms of voters, and using this to formulate its policies.
He and other party executives were touring the Soi Thep Prathanporn community while on the campaign trail in Khlong Luang district of Pathum Thani yesterday.
Mr Manas said the party's goal was to lift the standard of living for workers.
He said the NLP's policies were centred on tackling bread-and-butter issues through practical policies designed by a working group comprising labour and legal experts as well as owners of small and medium-sized enterprises.
NLP spokesman Sornsart Namuang said if the party was part of the next government, it would push to have temporary-contract workers in state agencies elevated to the status of civil servants.
The temporary contracts have taken away workers' career advancement and made them insecure about their job prospects, he said.
