Its cultivation supports “Siam Organic” to solve the problem of poverty with innovative organic products

Expo Live .. "Gasperi Rice" is lifting thousands of farmers in Thailand out of poverty

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Siam Organic provides farmers in Thailand with valuable opportunities by teaching them how to grow “Gaspri rice”, a new type of Uruguayan rice, which has a higher nutritional value than regular types, allowing farmers to access new and expanding markets with continuous growth. For numbers of consumers interested in foods with high nutritional value.

The Foundation, whose project qualified for the “Expo Live” program of “Expo 2020 Dubai”, helped more than 1,800 farmers increase their income, and thanks to the “Expo Live” grant, it aims to reach more than 20,000 families.

Thai farmers are among the poorest in the world, earning only $0.40 a day, as a result of poor harvests, high costs and inefficient farming systems. This problem affects 17 million farmers in Thailand alone, and it is getting worse, as farmers' debts have tripled in The past decade has led to many social problems, according to the foundation.

Therefore, Siam Organic was established, a social enterprise that solves the problem of farmers' poverty through innovative organic products of global appeal and interest. The project began with the help of only 25 farmers in the first year, and the foundation is now working with more than 2,500 farmers, to help them get out. from poverty.

The business model, which the Foundation provides to farmers, includes providing pure organic rice seeds, organic fertilizers, agricultural inputs, training farmers on organic farming, exchanging best practices between farmers, financing, and providing guaranteed markets to purchase the harvest, noting that it seeks to provide assistance in various fields. The stages in the integration framework. The Foundation says that it helps farmers from several aspects to achieve the desired goal, starting with the stage of field preparation, noting that global warming causes the rainy seasons to change and become unpredictable, which makes it difficult for farmers to determine the appropriate time for planting each year, and as a result of this They suffer large losses that multiply and burden them for several agricultural seasons.

The Foundation explains that it consults with weather experts and government agencies, in order to advise and advise farmers on the timing of the start of the rainy seasons. The Foundation adds that through the financing partnership, loans are also provided to some farmers to purchase organic fertilizers that further improve their production, noting that “Gasprey rice” is grown once a year and takes six months to grow, and here the Foundation provides all farmers with training on organic farming methods, So that they can meet the standards of international organic certification. During the growing season, farmers use the best organic farming practices to protect their crops from pests and diseases.The Corporation requires farmers to keep at least 25% of their crops for home consumption after the season, and guarantees them to purchase the remaining quantities, and the Corporation explains that farmers bring their crops to a milling center, where Siam Organic pays farmers up to 200% more compared to What they would receive if they grow traditional commodity rice, and the cooperatives grind and store “Gasprey” rice until it is ready for shipment to dealers.

Expectations indicate that Thailand's rice production in the 2020-2021 marketing year will reach 18.6 million tons, an increase of 5% compared to the previous year.

Thailand has nearly 10 million hectares of rice plantations, and has 3.7 million families engaged in agriculture.

rice price guarantee

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the government of Thailand has allocated about $1.7 billion to the rice price guarantee program for the 2020/2021 season, and this program provides compensation to farmers in the event that market prices fall below the guaranteed record level. The State Agricultural Bank and Agricultural Cooperatives, in addition to that, the government approved a program of granting interest-free loans to farmers who decided to keep their grain and delay marketing it.