Bioeconomy In Thailand At a glance

This briefing by the Stockholm Environment Institute describes Thailand's strategic promotion of a bioeconomy to overcome the middle-income trap, reduce social inequality, and mitigate environmental impacts. It focuses on the industrial use of sugarcane and cassava to create value-added products like biofuels and bioplastics, while highlighting regulatory hurdles, land and water scarcity, and social issues such as low wages and food insecurity.

• Thailand's bioeconomy strategy aims to help the country escape the middle-income trap—where a nation cannot generate enough income to move from middle-income to upper-income status—while simultaneously reducing social inequality and environmental harm.
• The government has prioritized cassava and sugarcane for bioeconomy development because they are produced in large quantities and are versatile enough to be converted into value-added products, including biofuels and bioplastics.
• While Thailand intends to develop the bioeconomy at both community and industrial levels, the industrial sector—specifically sugarcane and cassava—is more advanced due to existing infrastructure, financing, and research and development.
• The Thailand 4.0 policy, launched in 2016, targets ten 'S-curve industries' to drive economic growth, including bioeconomy-related sectors such as healthcare, biochemicals, bioenergy, and food.
• The Cane and Sugar Act of 1968 creates a regulatory barrier by prohibiting the direct use of sugarcane juice for any products other than sugar, forcing farmers to rely on by-products like molasses and bagasse for ethanol production.
• Environmental risks to the bioeconomy include water scarcity, as only 10% of cane plantations are irrigated, and limited land availability, with the Land Development Department reporting only 0.37 Mha of remaining land suitable for sugarcane.
• Social challenges include wage inequality, with sugarcane plantation workers earning less than the national minimum wage of THB 300 per day in 2015, and decreased food security for households that switch from rice to sugarcane farming.
• Labor shortages and high costs lead sugarcane farmers to burn fields rather than harvest fresh cane, which results in soil erosion, lower biodiversity, and air pollution.

APA

Aung, M. T. (2021). Bioeconomy In Thailand At a glance. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/sei-db-bioeconomy-thailand-aung-apr-2021-updated.pdf

Chicago

Aung, May Thazin. Bioeconomy In Thailand At a glance. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2021. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/sei-db-bioeconomy-thailand-aung-apr-2021-updated.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Aung |first1=May Thazin |title=Bioeconomy In Thailand At a glance |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=January 2021 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/sei-db-bioeconomy-thailand-aung-apr-2021-updated.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{aung2021bioeconomy, author = {Aung, May Thazin}, title = {{Bioeconomy In Thailand At a glance}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2021}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/sei-db-bioeconomy-thailand-aung-apr-2021-updated.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }