Face-to-face with Thai rice farmers…
Above are images of me interviewing 2 Thai rice farmers. How did you end up there? I hear you ask. It all started with my interest in pursuing a sustainability internship. This led to my contact with Paul, who set me up with GrowAsia - a non-governmental organization that catalyzes the development of sustainable agriculture. In a meeting with Paul, we discussed my interest in Carbon which led to the focus on rice farming.
Traditional rice farming involves flooding the rice field excessively all year, resulting in a lot of methane production and thus global warming. To put this problem in perspective, methane has a global warming potential (GWP) of 28, meaning it does 28x more environmental harm than carbon. As a result, rice farming accounts for roughly 30% of the agricultural sector’s GHG emissions. The good news is not only that more than half of rice’s emissions can be mitigated, it is the easiest to do out of all crops. What is required is to flood the field at intervals, also known as AWD (Alternative Wetting and Drying). This makes rice farming a crucial aspect of combatting climate change. Carbon credits are being encouraged to incentivize farmers to practice AWD through extra revenue. For a few years, the major standard to verify a farmer’s sustainable practice was the Gold Standard, however, in June 2024, Verra released a refined, draft methodology to monetize these efforts. My job with my fellow intern Sahana was to 1. scrutinize the methodology, and 2. develop a framework for Olam to monetize their rice farmers’ efforts with Verra’s new carbon credit methodology.
Our initial task was to examine the methodology. Paul, using his creative imagination, had us develop 100 questions to scrutinize the methodology. Least to say, it was a daunting task that took too many hours of collaboration with my fellow intern Sahana. When we submitted our questions to Paul, he was impressed with how well-structured, critical, and articulate they were. However, we were not done yet. We then had to categorize the questions appropriate for the stakeholders to ask. At that moment, I realized my internship was going to extend beyond sitting in front of a computer screen. Without much hesitation, I expressed my eagerness to visit the stakeholders to Paul. This prompted him to use his network of connections to develop a plan. Suddenly, I had all the relevant stakeholders and a plan to make a site visit to Bangkok, Thailand. I was thrilled, but fate had it that Sahana had to drop out due to university commitments, and I was to go alone.
On Friday, my family and I landed in Bangkok, Thailand. Family? I thought you were going alone, Fateh. Yes, I was, but before my on-site trip, my family turned the weekend into a mini-holiday. It was a great experience packed with Bangkok’s activities, and food! See some photos below!
After this short holiday, it was time for my family to leave. I stayed on for what was going to come next. On Tuesday morning, I arrived at the Olam Thailand office where I saw factory operations of rice and transportation via the Bangkok River. Shortly after this, a 1-hour drive with my trip supervisor Namwaan, an extremely friendly and joyful lady, took us to outer Bangkok to see the rice farmers. My interaction intrigued me right away when the first field I saw had a drone the size of a Mini car hovering around spraying fertilizer. It seemed unreal, like out of a Sci-Fi movie, seriously. Then, through tough navigation that happens in a village, we reached the first farmer’s house. Throughout the journey, I was surprisingly calm and in the moment — I knew what had to be done.
Stepping out of the car, Namwaan, the driver, and I greeted the farmer by bowing our heads, folding our hands, and saying “Sawasdee Khrap.” We sat outside her house which was not much more than a hut. Facing the road, she also had a small stall selling some candies. I first let the farmer introduce herself in Thai, and then Namwaan translated it to me, and then I introduced myself in English, and then Namwaan translated it to the farmer. After this, I began with the interview with the same process of translation. I ensured to stay in the moment while the farmer responded in Thai to Namwaan even though I didn’t understand what she was saying. This helped me keep my focus and show her my appreciation for what she had to say. To my delight, her responses were spot-on and really comprehensive. For example, she gave an insightful list as to why farmers in Central Thailand (her region) had not yet adapted to AWD and other sustainable practices. This included financial risk, a sheep mindset, and stubbornness due to tradition/culture/family habits. She also mentioned a term I heard for the first time: “smart farmer.” In sustainable and tech-driven agriculture, those that utilize contemporary tech available to increase the productivity of their crop yield are “smart farmers”. In this case, ‘the contemporary tech’ would be the drone I saw earlier, which I learned in her interview to be a service that farmers rented for sowing seeds and spraying fertilizing for US$10 per activity.
“Only 20% of the farmers in my region are smart farmers”
She mentioned there is a correlation between being a “smart farmer” and implementing sustainable practices. Hence, she also explained the low levels of AWD in her region due to there being so few “smart farmers,” as quoted above. Also, find a photo of the questionnaire next to her house.
Next, it was time to drive to the next farmer. 10-minutes took us to a slightly bigger house where the man also had a frog farm. This reminded me of the lady farmer’s roadside shop and banana crop, making me question if rice income is enough to support their livelihoods. Why do they need other sources of income? This connected to my project of carbon crediting and led to many more meaningful questions that were tailored to the man’s background who was also a “smart farmer.” Asking him the same questions as to why farmers in his region hadn’t adopted AWD like himself and his family, he mentioned the following reasons: no new generation for farming, many sources of income, and AWD/carbon credit methodologies require too much time/effort. With introspection, these insights and questions would not have been possible without being there in person and noticing their farmer lifestyle.
Then, he took us to his rice farm. This was particularly exciting because his farm had recently suffered a huge pest outbreak. This was abnormal because AWD should reduce pests and crop disease as studies have shown, however, his experience was quite the opposite. Thankfully, the pests were gone as he had reduced the water level substantially hence we were able to do a field visit. Stepping into the rice fields, quite humorously, I was reminded of my Dad’s laptop background. It seemed like the same rice crops blowing in the wind on a sunny day! Having gone to many countrysides in my life, this experience was not very different. However, I had rarely ever stepped into a field, let alone with the owner. The farmer showed us the weed that was growing, replacing the rice crop as a result of depleted water levels. These mini-details helped me appreciate the experience even more and grasp the invaluable understanding from an on-site visit. Below are photos of the man’s frog farm and us at his rice fields - an experience truly!
This concluded my interviews with the farmer stakeholders. Now, it was time to take the questions to the corporates. On Wednesday, we drove to a hotel near the Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, where I met Khun Bank. He works for GIZ - a German non-profit providing services to help farmers adopt sustainable rice practices - and is the Project Director for Rice. Hence I prepared questions to delve deep into a GIZ project that supports 250,000 Thai rice farmers through the provision of equipment and training. Once again, mental preparation was everything. I felt completely calm and ready to approach the interview. This enabled me to be friendly with Khun Bank and ask him casual questions like the workshop he was hosting at the hotel. In my interview with Khun Bank, I let him know about my interview with farmers yesterday which highlighted the issues they face in implementing sustainable rice agriculture. He found this interesting, and I asked if GIZ had faced similar challenges in implementing their project and how they overcame them. Being able to link interviews like this set me up well with knowledge and understanding. At this stage, I was starting to feel a firm footing in carbon crediting and Verra’s methodology. Find some photos below of Khun Bank and me!
Later that day, I had a second questionnaire with GIZ’s Carbon Credit Expert - Toby. Surprisingly, this was going to be my first virtual interview, and my fellow intern Sahana was able to join. We decided on a strategy beforehand to take the questions one by one, making the interview more bearable and engaging! In my opinion, interviewing Toby was the most informative regarding Verra’s methodology as we learned how certain aspects of Verra’s methodology contribute to a carbon credit and his opinion on the draft! Overall, interviewing 2 GIZ experts in their respective fields was a thrill, and hugely insightful. I want my readers to know that there was a huge contrast in my trip; one day I visited the fields and asked farmers about their daily lives and the next I interviewed corporates. However, throughout this process, I felt deeply grounded. It felt the same while interviewing farmers underneath their huts or corporates in a fancy hotel. Maybe experiencing the farmers’ way of life helped me be humble, or perhaps, an intrinsic understanding of humanity. I don’t know what brought this out of me, but I acknowledge that I treat people fairly. I think this applies greatly to my project where there is huge income inequality in carbon crediting between farmers practicing sustainability and the credits bought by MNCs (Multinational Corporations).
After this, on Thursday, it had almost been a week of my time in Bangkok, and was the day to fly back. As I ate my breakfast in the hotel’s buffet, I took some time to reflect on the mountain of experience I had gathered in the last couple of days. Taking time to process, I felt grateful and thanked Waheguru (God) for this opportunity. Feeling thankful, I concluded my on-site visit to Bangkok, Thailand.
The End.
No! The internship was and is not done!
That day after landing in Singapore, I had my first call with Borj, my official supervisor. Borj, as a supervisor, simply put is who we present our findings to. So in my meeting with Borj, I first briefed her about the work I have done so far regarding the Verra methodology. Then, we did our interview as I had a questionnaire for her too, enhancing my understanding of GrowAsia’s role in training farmers, similar to GIZ. After the interview, she expressed that my questions were insightful and was interested in learning more about my on-site visit and my findings. Therefore, she wanted the final internship presentation to be about my trip. She said she was going to bring some colleagues too - how exciting! Luck for you, you readers got presented with the experience first ;)
As my internship at GrowAsia arrives close to its conclusion, my final task is to create a framework for Olam to monetize their farmers’ sustainable efforts through the Verra carbon credit methodology with the help of GrowAsia’s funding, a.k.a. ImpactFunds. This will most likely involve filling out a PDD (Project Design Document) - a mandatory process for applying for a carbon credit.
As I find evident in my writing, I have used a lot of terminology related to my internship work and hopefully, you too have learned about sustainable rice farming and carbon crediting. I believe this is an area that is yet to be tapped by most governments and methodologies like Verra’s will be mandatory to comply with soon.
It was a pleasure writing this version of the EcoBizBlog and sharing this life experience here first with you!
