Farmer Development
Agriculture is a cornerstone of the economy in Southeast Asia, particularly in Thailand, which plays a significant role as a producer and exporter of various agricultural products. This sector not only supports the livelihoods of local people but also contributes significantly to global food security. However, the agricultural industry is currently facing unprecedented challenges due to climate change, leading to extreme weather events and resulting in droughts and floods. These conditions disrupt traditional agricultural practices and reduce crop yields.
To address these challenges, sustainable agriculture is not an option but a necessity to balance food security with environmental protection and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Sustainable practices include reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving soil quality, conserving water, and maintaining biodiversity. Implementing these sustainable practices will enable the agricultural sector in Southeast Asia to continue growing despite the challenges posed by climate change. These efforts not only ensure the sustainability of agriculture but also contribute to the overall well-being of farmers and communities.
Supply Management and Promotion of Sustainable Agriculture
To ensure continuous, sufficient, and stable raw material sourcing, Thai Wah has established policies and practices for sustainable agricultural sourcing. The company emphasizes sourcing quality raw materials from sustainable cultivation areas and developing degraded cultivation areas by provided knowledge sharing and training programs on sustainable agriculture principles, and disease-free and disease-resistant stems are propagated and delivered to farmers to ensure strong and healthy stems to address the cassava mosaic disease outbreak.
Raw Material Traceability
Traceability of our raw materials is a crucial part of the procurement process to ensure quality and traceability from customer to agricultural area. Therefore, we have outlined comprehensive steps for purchasing fresh cassava roots, which include selecting farmers, evaluating farmers, planning the purchase of fresh cassava roots, setting prices, and payments. These steps help us trace the origin of raw materials throughout the procurement and production process.
- In the supplier selection process, suppliers are categorized into four groups:
- Farmers participating in the company's sustainable agriculture promotion program
- General farmers who sell fresh cassava roots at the announced price at the factory gate
- Collectors who gather fresh cassava roots from small farmers or brokers to sell to the company
- Organic fresh cassava root suppliers.
- Each supplier group has criteria and requirements to ensure accurate traceability. Annual evaluations ensure that suppliers comply with the agricultural standards set by Thai Wah to be considered for the Approved Vendor List (AVL).
- During the fresh cassava root purchasing process, the company collects information, including the farmer's name, growing location, production/harvest date, weight, and starch content, to ensure it meets the specified quality standards. The roots are then processed according to FIFO (First In, First Out) or FEFO (First Expire, First Out) principles.
- The company retains documents and records for effective traceability.
Farm Sustainability Assessment
The Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) is an evaluation approach developed by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform to assess and promote sustainable agricultural practices. The FSA covers environmental, social, and economic topics with various details and indicators, helping farmers and evaluating organizations understand the sustainability aspects of agriculture.
In 2024, Thai Wah expanded the FSA assessment area to Rayong and Kanchanaburi provinces, involving both individual farmers and farmer groups under the local cassava collection group. These farmers delivered cassava to Thai Wah's factory, with a total yield of over 184,000 tons from 46,060 rai (7,370 hectares) and 490 farmers. The cassava cultivation sites mentioned above were verified at the Gold level.
These successes affirm Thai Wah's commitment to driving positive change in the agricultural sector in terms of environmental, social, and economic aspects, and promoting farmers' understanding of the importance of sustainable agriculture. Farmers who passed the FSA assessment accounted for 53% of the cassava supply to Thai Wah. Thai Wah aims to continuously monitor this sustainable agricultural approach. This success reflects the recognition of our efforts in supply management, sustainable agriculture, pollution reduction, and human rights protection.
X20 Clean Stem Multiplication
To address the widespread outbreak of cassava mosaic disease over the past several years, Thai Wah has contributed by propagating disease-free cassava stems and distributing them to farmers to ensure they have healthy stems for planting. Additionally, close monitoring and support are provided by agronomists to offer necessary technical information for maintaining robust cassava greenhouse that can effectively combat the cassava mosaic disease crisis.
In 2024, the company distributed 803,810 X20 cassava stems to farmers, covering an area of 447 rai in four provinces: Udon Thani, Kalasin, Rayong, and Tak. The number of X20 stems distributed to farmers was lower than the target set for the previous year due to low rainfall distribution in the early part of the year, which prevented farmers from planting cassava as usual.
Thai Wah Thank You Farmer Day
Thai Wah recognizes the crucial role of farmers as the primary suppliers of raw materials to us. Therefore, the company organizes the "Thai Wah Thank You Farmer Day" every quarter to express gratitude to them. This event is organized for all farmers who supply cassava to the company's starch factories by paying incentives to farmers who sell cassava to Thai Wah's factories located in Ban Chang District, Rayong Province; Phimai District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province; Tha Khantho District, Kalasin Province; and Mae Sot District, Tak Province. In 2024, Thai Wah paid a total of 10,670,390 baht in dividends to 3,769 farmers, averaging 2,931 baht per person per year.
Utilizing Technology to Enhance Agricultural Efficiency
Thailand is committed to developing and integrating agricultural technology into operations to enhance planning and cultivation efficiency. We have integrated technology to promote precision agriculture, particularly by applying satellite imagery and artificial intelligence (AI) in the agricultural sector. These innovations transform agricultural management approaches to be more efficient and help improve crop yields.
The satellite imagery analysis system allows farmers to plan their cultivation accurately, including predicting planting cycles, assessing yields, and analyzing water usage in agricultural areas through the processing of current and historical data. Comprehensive spatial data analysis with AI and machine learning identifies important agricultural patterns and trends, such as weather conditions, water levels, and soil quality. This helps farmers make more efficient agricultural decisions, such as determining the optimal planting and harvesting times, reducing unnecessary resource use, including water, fertilizers, and agricultural chemicals, and using integrated pest management and organic fertilizers by recommending appropriate amounts for each planting period to minimize environmental and ecosystem impacts. This results in higher quality and quantity of produce, leading to higher selling prices.
Collaboration with Government and Business Partners in Agricultural Development
The journey to achieve the objective of improving farmers' quality of life and promoting agriculture in the region cannot be done alone. Therefore, collaboration with partners who share the same goals is crucial and allows all parties to reach their objectives more thoughtfully and swiftly. This collaborative approach emphasizes our commitment to food security and enhancing the resilience and adaptability of the regional food system.
Thai Wah has partnered with both government and private sector partners to promote agricultural cooperation through various initiatives that support sustainable farming, improve productivity, and enhance farmers' quality of life. Government agencies, such as local administrative organizations under the Ministry of Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Agricultural Extension under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, have a deep understanding of the Thai agricultural sector and can effectively reach the target communities and farmers.