Thai Rice: Strengthening climate-smart rice farming

The project aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 4 million tCO2eq over 15 years and increase the resilience of 250,000 rice farmers in 15 Thai provinces. It focuses on scaling up climate-smart technologies—such as Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) and Laser Land Levelling (LLL)—while addressing financial barriers through the creation of the Thai Green Farmers’ Facility (TGFF). The project integrates mitigation and adaptation by promoting water-saving practices and diversifying crops to combat increasing water scarcity and drought.

• Rice farming is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in Thailand, accounting for 8% of the country's total emissions and 51% of agricultural GHG emissions, primarily through methane generated in flooded paddy fields.
• Thai rice farming is highly vulnerable to climate change, specifically increasing water scarcity in the dry season, rising temperatures, and more frequent extreme flooding and drought events.
• The project targets 250,000 smallholder rice farmers across 15 provinces, including 9 in the Central Plains, 5 in the North-East, and 1 in the North, with a specific goal to include at least 100,000 female farmers.
• The project aims to achieve a mitigation impact of at least 4 million tCO2eq over a 15-year lifespan and contribute to safeguarding an additional 11.9 million tCO2eq from farmers previously served by the Thai Rice NAMA Support Project (NSP).
• Key climate-smart technologies promoted include Laser Land Levelling (LLL) and Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), which can reduce methane emissions by 30-50% and water consumption by 30-40% in irrigated areas.
• To overcome financial barriers and risk aversion among farmers and service providers, the project will establish the Thai Green Farmers’ Facility (TGFF) to coordinate a revolving mechanism, a loan guarantee scheme, and crop insurance.
• The project promotes the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) Standard and the national Rice GAP++ to enable farmers to access premium international markets and verify sustainable practices.
• The project addresses the issue of rice straw burning, which releases CO2, CH4, and N2O, by promoting straw baling and other upcycling alternatives to provide farmers with additional income.
• The total indicative project cost is EUR 102.35 million, with EUR 39.99 million requested from the GCF as a grant and EUR 62.36 million in co-finance.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2021). Thai Rice: Strengthening climate-smart rice farming. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/26470-thai-rice-strengthening-climate-smart-rice-farming_0.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. Thai Rice: Strengthening climate-smart rice farming. 2021. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/26470-thai-rice-strengthening-climate-smart-rice-farming_0.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=Thai Rice: Strengthening climate-smart rice farming |date=12 June 2021 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/26470-thai-rice-strengthening-climate-smart-rice-farming_0.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2021thai, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{Thai Rice: Strengthening climate-smart rice farming}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/26470-thai-rice-strengthening-climate-smart-rice-farming_0.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }