Sustainable corn farming
Corn plantation has often been associated with forest encroachment and deforestation, and it often involves feed mill companies which use corn as a raw material.
Bangkok Produce Merchandising, a subsidiary of Charoen Pokphand Group, has stepped in to tackle this attack. A project, titled “Self-sustaining farmers, sustainable corn”, was launched, aiming to help farmers raise output, lower the production cost and reduce environmental impacts from corn plantation.
Paisarn Kruawongvanich, executive vice president, said that the process would involve advanced technology in analysing soil through post-harvest management. He said that better techniques would allow farmers to reduce the use of chemicals, the burning of corn stubble, forest encroachment and reduce the negative impacts on the environment. Eventually, this would help farmers and lead to a sustainable supply chain.
A pilot project was kicked off in 2014 in Nakhon Ratchasima. Farmers included in the project saw an increase in income, as the production cost was cut by 25 per cent from Bt6.09 per kg to Bt4.55. Meanwhile, yield per rai increased by 57 per cent from 645 kg per rai to 1,011 kg.
“Our main goal is to encourage farmers to keep their farm land outside forest areas and the corn traceability should be assured. The pilot project was a success as participating farmers are now spreading their knowledge to others. This goes well with our company’s goal to sustainbly empower farmers,” Paisarn said.
He noted that traceability is also a goal, to ensure sustainable supply chain. The company must be able to trace back the origin of all corns going to the factories. To achieve this, corn aggregators must be registered as well as farmers. The registration of plantation land is also highlighted, to ensure that it is not in forest areas.
The project will be replicated to other parts of the country, Paisarn said. In 2015, the project was expanded to cover 16 provinces, involving over 3,400 farmers and over 83,000 rai of plantation areas.
The number of participating farmers is expected to to reach 14,480 by 2019, covering 225,000 rai of plantation areas.
