BANGKOK, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Thailand has considered promoting the growing and trading of hemp largely for the manufacturing of a medicinal ingredient and supplementary food, said a senior official on Monday.

Tobacco Authority of Thailand Governor Daonoi Sutthinipapan confirmed that the agency will encourage farmers in some parts of the country to grow cannabis sativa and cannabis indica, which are hemp plant species as alternative cash crops only if the law allows.

Hemp could potentially be manufactured as a medicinal ingredient and supplementary food largely bound for export, the governor said.

Though the agency plans to help the farmers with the sales of hemp, it is yet to see to it that the growing and trading of such cash crop will not violate the law which currently bans that of marijuana, she said.

Marijuana plants, the growing and trading of which are currently legal in several countries, are as well a cannabis sativa species which has some characteristics in common with hemp plants.

Hemp can be commercially used in automobile industry, textile industry and energy sector in addition to the manufacturing of collagen, supplementary food and medicine, according to the governor.