When new farmers come and see the soil is improving, and costs go down and yields go up, they want to join us, said Thanu Thanakhet, a farmer in Thailands largest rice-producing province, Ubon Ratchathani. Seeing is believing.
Thanakhet and his wife have just celebrated their farms 10th anniversary. Like other farmers in the province facing difficult growing conditions and high costs, seeing the impact in their own fields has made all the difference in how they farm.
Decades of monocropping, chemical-intensive farming, deforestation and mounting climate pressures have depleted the soil, leaving farmers with increased costs and lower yields. These same forces are reshaping landscapes across Thailand.
Deforestation, largely driven by agriculture, has accelerated soil erosion and nutrient loss. Forest cover has dropped from over half of the countrys land area in the mid-20th century to around one-third today. Soil erosion has become widespread, impacting 34 per cent of Thailands agricultural land at the end of the last decade. Intensifying droughts, floods and unpredictable weather add to the challenge, weakening fragile landscapes and further stripping soil. The toll is economic as well as environmental. Thailand loses an estimated US$2.7 billion each year to land degradation.
With support from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through its develoPPP programme, UNEP, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) Thailand and several private partners are working together to help farmers to farm differently. This means using fewer chemicals, managing water efficiently and growing rice sustainably. Using the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) standard as a guide, the efforts are proving that sustainability does not mean increased costs or lower yields. In fact, it is strengthening both ecosystems and income.
This matters for a crop as central as rice. It is the main staple food in all regions of the country and a major export commodity, underpinning food security and livelihoods for millions. On Thailands agricultural lands, which cover 40 per cent of the countrys land area, nearly half is taken up by rice.
Thanakhet is one of the farmers supported by the project. On his farm, he has transformed the way he manages his field. Before planting, a technique called laser land levelling is employed to create a flat field, which reduces water use and improves the efficiency of seeds and fertilizer.
After harvest, the straw left over is no longer burned a practice used to clear fields that contributes to air pollution, nutrient loss and reduced soil productivity over time. Instead, the straw is repurposed as livestock feed or sold for additional income, and the remainder is left on the field to deliver essential nutrients to the land.
Because the soil is healthier, the rice yield has improved, said Thanakhet. The benefits are more than economic, the ecosystem is improving as well.
The healthier foundation has enabled diversity in what the farm produces. Manure is used in place of chemical fertilizers, and fields once planted exclusively with rice now support bananas, mango and jackfruit.
From growing more than just rice, we bring in additional income from the other crops, added Thanakhet.
The changes are starting to show in the numbers. Across the province where sustainable practices have been adopted, yields have increased from 2.5 to 3.5 tons per hectare, and net incomes have grown by more than 10 per cent. Through the project, the initiative is scaling these practices in partnership with companies Olam Agri and Croplife, supporting 11,000 farmers in Ubon Ratchathani to adopt the SRP.
Sustainability doesnt end in Ubon Ratchathanis rice fields. Just beyond them lie forests and mixed landscapes as central to supporting farmers as the rice itself. Decades of agricultural expansion have placed pressure on these ecosystems, weakening their ability to regulate water, protect soil nutrients and support biodiversity, all functions vital to rice production.
Stewardship on the ground is therefore essential to keeping these ecosystems healthy. Alongside sustainable farming practices, the project supports community forestry and restoration efforts across thousands of hectares, including through afforestation and diversified cropping. Local communities are restoring degraded areas, monitoring land use and helping protect forests from illegal cutting. To date, these efforts have improved landscape management across 61,000 hectares, reinforcing the ecological foundations of sustainable rice production.
These improvements also contribute to Thailands broader push to achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030, a global effort to combat land degradation, which already affects more than 3.2 billion people worldwide. They also support to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Frameworks goal to halt and reverse nature loss by protecting ecosystems and advancing more sustainable agriculture.
Taken together, the changes in Ubon Ratchathanis rice landscapes point toward creating one system that links ecosystems, livelihoods and farming rather than competing systems that undermine one another. And, for communities here, this is not a new concept. It is a return to ways of understanding the land that predates global goals and modern agriculture but also requires patience and a willingness to see change over time.
Sustainability is long-term, said Thanakhet. Farmers sometimes want quick results, but this kind of change happens continuously. You have to observe, adjust, and keep going.
Yet, changes in his fields are already visible.
[Before], the soil was white. You could see the salt on the surface, and yields at that time were low. Now, the soil is darker, the salt is gone, and yields have doubled.
