Cultivating partnerships for greener rice in Thailand

Rice is woven into Thailand’s cultural identity and economy. It sustains nearly four million households and anchors the country’s role as the world’s second largest rice exporter. Yet the systems that make rice production so vital are under stress. Farmers face rising input costs, pest outbreaks and erratic weather – from prolonged droughts to flash floods – all intensified by climate change.

The question for Thailand’s rice sector and for global trade is how to feed more people with fewer emissions while helping farmers adapt to a changing climate. A pioneering partnership between CropLife International, the German Development Agency (GIZ), and Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives – and with key participation from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Olam Agri and PepsiCo – is showing that climate action, farmer profitability and private-sector growth can reinforce each other.

Seizing the opportunity for climate resilience and profitability in Thailand’s rice sector

Over the past decade, Thailand’s rice landscape has been transformed through a number of initiatives focused on pest management, alternate wetting and drying irrigation, and low-emission rice cultivation practices. Together, they provide farmers with the means to reduce emissions, conserve resources and strengthen their resilience to climate shocks – all while aligning with global sustainability standards increasingly demanded by consumers and investors.

Farmers report higher yields and lower input costs through smarter pest management, more efficient irrigation and reduced fertilizer use – outcomes that reflect lessons learned from Thailand’s national drive toward sustainable rice production. Across projects supported by CropLife International, GIZ and other partners under the Sustainable Rice Platform, participating farmers have achieved yield gains of 10–15%, while cutting input costs by around 10–20% through better pest control, more precise fertiliser application and efficient water management. Partnerships with PepsiCo and Olam Agri are helping scale these benefits by embedding sustainable practices directly into commercial value chains. Through digital tools developed with their support, farmers can monitor soil health and optimise water use – achieving more consistent harvests even under increasingly unpredictable conditions. By integrating sustainable rice into their procurement strategies, both companies are ensuring that climate-smart production translates into real market incentives for farmers, showing that shared value – not charity – can drive systemic change.

In addition, training programmes are equipping farmers with the knowledge to monitor pest populations, use biological controls and apply pesticides safely and only when necessary. Complementary practices – such as precise fertiliser use, improved seed varieties and crop diversification – help maintain soil fertility and buffer against drought and flooding. These changes don’t just protect the environment; they make soil and crops better able to withstand climate stress, enabling farmers to earn higher incomes while proving that climate-smart practices can be both sustainable and profitable.

Another highly effective innovation has been periodically drying rice fields rather than keeping them permanently flooded. Farmers that adopt this technique have seen methane emissions cuts of up to 80%, while conserving water and strengthening climate resilience by managing irrigation more efficiently during droughts or heavy rain.

Building on these proven approaches, the Inclusive Sustainable Rice Landscapes (ISRL) programme – which continues earlier collaborative projects – aims to reach 45,000 farmers across 90,000 hectares and reduce more than 3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions by 2027 – roughly the same as taking 650,000 cars off the road for a year. These outcomes show that mitigation, adaptation and business competitiveness can coexist – and even amplify each other – when partnerships unite expertise from government, science, and business.

Scaling resilience and emissions reduction requires smart financing

The next phase – a €118 million climate-smart rice farming initiative backed by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), GIZ, PepsiCo, Olam Agri and other private-sector partners – will expand climate-smart rice production to 250,000 farmers across 21 provinces in Thailand by 2028.

This blended-finance model combines public and private investment to link climate impact with market opportunity. Green loans, revolving credit funds and sustainability-linked bonds are essential to give farmers access to affordable finance for efficient irrigation, climate-resilient seeds and low-emission equipment.

For corporate partners, these financing instruments are linked to measurable environmental and social targets, enabling them to track and demonstrate progress towards their sustainability and net-zero goals. At the same time, by improving farming practices, these initiatives help stabilise production and strengthen supply chains.

Adaptation and mitigation must advance together, with business at the table

By connecting science, finance and farmer expertise, CropLife International and partners are showing that sustainable agriculture can deliver economic opportunity and environmental progress in equal measure.

Greener rice is more than an environmental achievement – it’s an investment in the future of food security, trade competitiveness and climate resilience. When innovation, collaboration and market incentives align, agriculture can fulfil its triple promise: profit for farmers, performance for business and protection for the planet.

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