Planning Thailand’s Rice Sector with Climate-Smart Farming Approaches

28 February 2025, Bangkok, Thailand – Rice represents the essence of Asia’s food system, and feeds over half of the global population. In Thailand, rice cultivation accounts for about half the agricultural landscape, employing 18 million smallholder farmers. Yet, as climate change intensifies, Thailand’s staple crop faces pressures from prolonged droughts, rising temperatures, flash floods, and extreme weather events in general, placing rice production at risk.

To combat these challenges, the Thai Rice: Strengthening Climate-Smart Rice Farming project, funded by the Green Climate Fund GCF (Thai Rice GCF), was publicly launched on 26 February 2025. The Thai Rice GCF project builds upon the foundation laid by the Thai Rice NAMA project. The new initiative aims to drive a transformational shift towards climate-smart rice farming, equipping vulnerable farmers with the knowledge and tools needed to increase resilience and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

As an Executing Entity, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) takes a center stage in advancing climate-smart rice farming technologies in Thailand. The focus is on the verification of new agronomic technologies that could support climate-smart approaches in the Thai rice sector and adapting their application to the local context. This encompasses rigorous studies and testing of Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) in different local agro-environments, an advancement of drone technology for climate-smart agriculture, and sustainable rice residue management. IRRI will also support the National Determined Contributions (NDC) implementation and establish robust Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems for rice production.

In conjunction with the “National Inception Event for the Thai Rice: Strengthening Climate-Smart Rice Farming Project” two days prior, IRRI hosted the workshop entitled “Collaborative Activities under the Thai Rice GCF Project” on 28 February 2025. This workshop also served as a…