Resident Coordinator's Remarks for Reconnecting the International Partnerships: Thailand Food and Agriculture Systems Stocktaking

Mr. Sedthakiat Krajangwong, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives,

Distinguished diplomats, experts, colleagues and friends.

I am honored to address you as we work to strengthen international partnerships to ensure sustainable agriculture and food security globally in the run-up to the global stocktaking next month.

We are at the midway point to the 2030 Agenda, but interlinked global crises, including disruptions to food production and supplies, have led to backsliding of the SDGs, making acceleration a priority.

The UN Food Systems Summit has sought to transform the national pathways for agriculture and food by comprehensively adapting principles of sustainability, safety, and security.

This approach can make agriculture and food systems a critical accelerator for SDGs directly contributing to goals related to people and planet.

Even as the world is facing food shortages, Thailand is well placed to capitalize on its agrifood industry to advance the government’s BCG economic model as it builds on the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. 

Today’s stocktaking will enable us to outline priorities and work towards 4 big transformations:

1. reduce agrifood loss and waste;

2. build the capacities of farmers to support sustainable food production by leveraging technologies in support of no net loss in bio-diversity;

3. scale up nature-positive production; and

4. improve food safety.  

These will promote equitable livelihoods and build resilience to vulnerabilities.  

The UN, led by FAO, is partnering with the public and private sectors to support these 4 transformations.

The UN is working with the Ministry of Agriculture to cut agricultural waste in half from fruit and industrial crops such as durian, mango, palm oil and coffee by upcycling waste into new products. 

This generates additional incomes for more than 50,000 farmers across 14 provinces cultivating crops on over 200,000 hectares.

Similarly, FAO and UNDP, together with the Ministry, are working with 300 SMEs to introduce low-cost technologies and improve production chains in snack foods, fermented rice, animal products, fishery, and dairy.

Simple processes in monitoring and quality control have increased returns by over 17% for the SMEs.

The lessons learned are informing a national strategy on food waste reduction and a global capacity-building tool.

The UN is also partnering with the Government, farmers, cooperatives, and rural communities on the Digital Village Initiative, which promotes technical and digital solutions for rural transformations.

One pilot has tested automation tools for physically handicapped people working at an organic farm in Pathumthani. Another is introducing traceability, online zoning and smart farming systems for durian farmers in Chumphon.  

These initiatives are empowering the rural poor, the disadvantaged and ethnic minorities, enabling them to become agents of change in their communities.

FAO is also working with the government to collect geospatial data to generate agriculture statistics, including the use of drones for ground-truth data and crop mapping.

UNEP is assisting the Government in quantifying gains if the country switches to organic rice production, which will enhance biodiversity in paddy fields, lower emissions, reduce pesticides while maintaining yields.

Analysis shows that increasing the cultivated area of organic rice by 10% could generate benefits of over US $400 million over 15 years.

At the same time, ITC is training farmers on organic cultivation of rice and mangosteen, increasing knowledge on export requirements of organic produce to EU and strengthening certification bodies. This will contribute to scaling up of organic agriculture in country, given it stands at less than a percent.   

FAO is supporting the responsible use of antimicrobials in aquaculture in 12 provinces to mitigate antimicrobial resistance in shrimp, freshwater prawn, tilapia and catfish.

Small changes in antimicrobial use can safeguard profits even while protecting public health.

The private sector will have a key role to play in scaling up food safety nationwide by adopting this practice in consultation with the Ministry.

Moving forward, the UN, together with its partners in civil society, is organizing a dialogue on gender, climate and biodiversity, which will include sustainable food systems.

These discussions will inform the stock take and provide an even stronger evidence base.

Today is an excellent opportunity for Thailand to showcase its lessons learned as it seeks to become the Kitchen of the World.

The country can also be a key player in facilitating transformative outcomes in the context of South-South Cooperation.

It can do so at the Stocktaking Moment next month, which will build the momentum for advancing the resilience of food systems and speeding up progress on the SDGs.

Thank you.