We understand that it is our responsibility to mitigate impacts of agricultural raw materials which may be sourced with forest encroachment and those sourced from farming that damages the soil fertility as they are the causes of air pollution and climate change. We have been promoting sustainable farming without forest encroachment among farmers in collaboration with the government agencies, the civil society and farmers. We use our knowledge, expertise and technology, and engage with various stakeholders to launch a concrete project that will preserve natural resources and environment in the long run. At the same time, it also allows us to meet consumer demands by sourcing raw materials that are safe and of high quality from responsible sources.

We launched the “Self-Sufficient Farmers, Sustainable Corn” project in collaboration with the Agricultural Land Reform Office to build capacity of small farmers with legal title deed in the proximity on farming practices in accordance with the Thai Agricultural Standard–TAS4402-2010, Good Agricultural Practices for Maize. The training covered a wide range of topics including analysis of soil nutrition, post-harvest management and productivity increase. We also plan to support the establishment of a learning center to be used as a resource for the development of Thai corn farmers towards sustainability. We have aimed to engage with more than 11,150 small farmers which will cover 350,000 rai (56,000 hectares) of plantation areas through the project by 2023.

The results of the project evaluation reveal that the program helped farmers to increase yields and reduce cost. The program also helped minimize negative impacts to the community and the environment due to suitable agricultural waste management during cultivation and no burning during the post-harvest period.