Story Metta Kongphan-apirak Photos: BAAC
Mr Reinhold Elges, Country Director of GIZ Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Dr Nana Kuenkel, GIZ Thailand – Agriculture and Food Cluster Director and Coordinator, had a courtesy visit to Mr Chedtha Laepong, Senior Executive Vice President of Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) at BAAC head office.
A visit highlights a continued support and collaboration based on the MOU agreement signed between the two agencies in March 2023. The agreement focuses on capacity building and preparedness and implementation of green agricultural finance, sustainable finance mechanisms and operations. The aim is to address the climate impact on Thailand’s agricultural sector, particularly rice farming.
Thailand has been implementing the Thai Rice Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions or Thai Rice NAMA project under the Rice Department, BAAC and GIZ since 2018 to support smallholders farmers to access technologies and innovations essential for mitigation services and low-emission rice farming. The project will be implemented until July 2024.
BAAC and GIZ executives also further discussed feasibility to carry out activities for wrapping up the Thai Rice NAMA project while continuing a joint collaboration towards climate smart agriculture and livelihood development projects for Thai farmers.
“BAAC has a policy that wants to encourage farmers to cultivate rice following a new approach that helps increase yields, quality and revenue and reduce global warming,” said Mr. Chedtha.
Mr Elges, GIZ Country Director, emphasised that “Sustainable rice production will play an important role in the transformation of the Thai economy to reach carbon-neutrality and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. We will continue to help our agricultural partners in Thailand to promote the adoption of sustainable rice farming while enhancing rice farming efficiency and productivity to reduce climate change impacts in the long run.” ■