GIZ Thailand in collaboration with Nestle (Thai) and government partners under Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives led by the Department of Agricultural Extension, the Department of Agriculture, the Land Development Department and provincial agricultural bodies organised a training-of-trainers session on “Regenerative Agriculture” on 22-23 April 2024 at Loft Mania Hotel, Chumphon province.

The intensive two-day training activity served as the pilot for the Coffee ++ Thailand project, implemented by GIZ and Nestle (Thai) from 2023 to 2025. It was attended by up to 50 government officials from related agencies including the Department of Agricultural Extension, the Department of Agriculture, the Land Development Department, the Chumphon Provincial Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Office, the Chumphon College of Agriculture and Technology and PUR project. The aim was to pass on knowledge to 2,200 targeted Robusta coffee farmers in Chumphon’s Ta Sae, Sawi and Patoh districts; Ranong’s Kraburi, La-oon and Ka Per districts; Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Bang Saphan Noi district; and Surat Thani’s Panom district to improve livelihoods and the ability to adapt to climate resilience among coffee smallholders while supporting them to be a part of solution to the climate change challenges facing the agricultural sector.

Speaking at the opening of the training session, Pouchamarn Wongsanga, Project Director of GIZ Thailand, said: “The objective of Coffee++ Thailand project is to support the improvement of economic, environmental and climate resilience among Robusta coffee farmers. They can play a role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by putting into practice the principle of regenerative agriculture. Coffee++ Thailand project is regarded as an integrated platform for public and private partners, community groups and smallholder farmers to work together, leading to the development of a ‘regenerative agriculture’ module for trainers and smallholder farmers.”

Tatrit Kunasol, Corporate Agricultural Services Manager of Nestle (Thai) Ltd. said: “Consumers around the world are giving importance and priority to sources of agricultural products, raw materials and other factors including child labour, prohibited chemicals, depletion of soil and water resources, agricultural waste released into public areas, and forest encroachment. Coffee is one of the key agricultural commodities to which consumers are increasingly paying more attention in terms of product sources. This is why regenerative agriculture has been developed. We hope our Coffee++ trainers will pass on knowledge learned from the training so that this is put into practice, leading to well-managed farming, and reducing the climate change impact on the environment and on us.”

Dr. Prayoon Songprasert, Chairman of the Thai Coffee Farmers Association, said “Coffee productivity in Thailand used to be as high as 100,000 tonnes/year. However, our productivity has drastically dropped due to policies and climate change. Coffee farmers are at risk of income and product loss due to prolonged drought. Knowledge of regenerative agriculture will enable both the trainers and the farmers to become climate resilient and more productive without encroaching on the forests and the environment.”

Suban Rakthong, Chumphon Provincial Agriculture Chief, said “Farmers are facing the severe impact of climate change, resulting in less coffee being produced. Putting the principle of regenerative agriculture into practice will help mitigate the impacts while gradually creating sustainability of upstream coffee smallholders. All related offices need to work together and seek ways to enable coffee smallholders to understand the concept of regenerative agriculture, adapt and adopt their farming practices while embracing new technologies to boost coffee productivity and reduce ecosystem damage.”

The Provincial Agriculture Chief added that the coffee-growing land in Chumphon had dropped from over 200,000 rai to about 60,000 rai. “The Office of Agricultural Economic has estimated that there would be only 40,000 rai of coffee-growing land in 2024. Coffee smallholders have switched to growing durian due to higher prices. Vietnam can now produce coffee at the rate of 477kg/rai, compared to our capacity which averages 92kg/rai. Despite declining coffee-growing areas, drinking coffee is regarded as a lifestyle and regenerative agriculture implementation can be a solution for effectively boosting coffee productivity per rai and farmland management in the long run.”

Throughout two days of the training programme, master trainers from Maejo University, Kasetsart University, and the Chumphon Agricultural Technology Promotion Center (Economic Insects) coached a total of 50 new trainers from the government and private sectors on the key topics related to regenerative agriculture including agroforestry, soil restoration, compost making, horticulture management and beekeeping as well as nutrient and integrated pest management. This will allow them to pass on the regenerative agriculture knowledge to smallholders.

Associate Professor Jiraporn Inthasan, master trainer of the Regenerative Agriculture module from Maejo University’s Faculty of Agricultural Production, noted that the regenerative agriculture approach, if implemented, would enable smallholder farmers to systematically boost productivity, balance production costs and create opportunities for the young generations of Robusta coffee smallholders to either improve or adjust their inherited farmland management for sustainability, better livelihoods and traceability, while reducing soil surface depletion and GHG emissions. The better and higher product quality and standard would encourage farmers to change.

After completion of the two-day training, a pool of competent local instructors was established to serve as a platform for knowledge sharing and to turn the regenerative agriculture approach into practice through a series of training courses of Robusta coffee smallholders in targeted communities in the four piloted provinces in the coming months.