Story: Pawida Charoenmuang & Kanyanat Rungsiyavekin / Photos: BAAC, Green Finance Component of Thai Rice GCF Project, AgriCRF Project
Experts from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), GIZ Thailand and agri-related institutions gathered at a two-day consultation workshop to co-develop a financial literacy and climate-resilience training programme under the green finance component of the Thai Rice: Strengthening Climate-Smart Rice Farming (Thai Rice GCF) Projectand discuss the implementation of financial measures designed to support Thai farmers.
This new curriculum development is tailored to the unique needs of rice farmers across diverse cultivation areas, with a strong focus on practicality. It also aims to strengthen farmers’ knowledge on financial management literacy and long-term investment in climate-smart agricultural technologies as preparation for climate resilience and adaptation.
Held at the Kalanan Riverside Resort in Nonthaburi province, the two-day workshop aimed to reflect lessons from previous finance-related initiatives and brainstorm ideas for future action plans on a development of financial literacy and climate resilience training module and a roll-out of climate-smart financial support measures under the Climate-Smart Incentive (CSI) programme. A total of 40 participants from various organisations including BAAC headquarters and regional offices, GIZ Thailand, the German Sparkassenstiftung for International Cooperation (DSIK), and the Panyapiwat Institute of Management joining the workshop exchanged views and ideas to develop and improve financial training modules under the ongoing Thai Rice GCF project. They also reviewed lessons learned from the Innovative Climate Risk Financing for the Agricultural Sector in the ASEAN Region (AgriCRF) project, which developed financial tools to strengthen farmers’ capacity to tackle climate risks, while exploring challenges, and strategies to scale up practices among farmers and staff at all levels nationwide.
Funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Thai Rice GCF project seeks to facilitate the transition to low-emission, climate-resilient rice farming across 21 provinces in Thailand during 2024-2028.
The first session began with a reflection on lessons learned from financial training efforts under the AgriCRF project. Implemented by GIZ Thailand with funding from BMZ, the AgriCRF project aims to enhance farmers’ access to finance and build their capacities to manage climate risks.
In June 2024, the project introduced a comprehensive curriculum covering financial literacy, climate risk, and gender-responsive access to finance, followed by a series of training of trainers (TOT) sessions for 40 BAAC staff in three pilot provinces: Buriram, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Another three training sessions were conducted for up to 379 farmers in these pilot provinces.
The green finance component of the Thai Rice GCF project works in collaboration with the BAAC, regarded as the Executing Entity, to enhance access of the 9 million-euro budget allocation among rice farmers in the targeted 21 provinces through the following three integrated approaches:
- A development of a financial literacy management curriculum
- A provision of partial subsidies through the Climate-Smart Incentive (CSI) programme
- An introduction of Climate-Smart Loans (CSL) to promote the adoption of climate-smart technologies
On the second day of the workshop, representatives from BAAC and GIZ engaged in in-depth discussions on the development of the Climate-Smart Incentive (CSI) mechanism. The session included a presentation of the conceptual framework and the accompanying procedure manual, followed by an exchange of views on key topics such as applicant eligibility, selection criteria, application steps and required documentation, as well as the roles and responsibilities of each implementing party. The aim was to ensure that the implementation process is clearly defined and practically applicable. Participants also discussed the Farm Management Plan (FMP) and Farm Management Plan Progress (FMPP), which are used to monitor the adoption of climate-smart agricultural technologies under the CSI scheme. Constructive feedback was provided to improve the effectiveness and usability of the overall process.
Dr Tien-ake Tiyapongpattana, workshop facilitator, summarised views and details shared throughout two days and highlighted plans for the upcoming technical workshop focusing on officials at Rice Department, Department of Agricultural Extension, BAAC, and GIZ, to further discuss strategic move as the next step. ■
