1117. Southeast Asia Liaison Office News: Visiting Organic Farms in Thailand

On September 10th and 11th, 2024 (Wed-Thu), we visited five organic farms on the outskirts of Bangkok with four fourth-year students from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Chiba University.

The Chiba University students had the opportunity to come to Thailand on a university study trip, and we facilitated their request to visit farms and ask about the state of agriculture in Thailand in light of their interest in smart agriculture.

The JIRCAS Southeast Asia Liaison Office, located within the building of the Soil Science Research Group of the Department of Agriculture (DOA) in Bangkok, Thailand, has maintained a deep connection with the DOA for over 50 years. We coordinated with the Lopburi Seed Research and Development Center of the DOA to help us visit the farms, and they introduced us to organic farmers who grow tropical fruits and vegetables such as durian, guava, mango, and banana during our two-day visit.

One of the participating students actively engaged with the farmers, conducting interviews at the five farms we visited and showing enthusiasm about writing his graduation thesis on the subject.

Organic farming has become popular in Thailand in recent years, and organic produce shops can be seen in various places in Bangkok.
I hope to introduce each of the farms we visited in future editions of the Southeast Asia Liaison Office News.

Contributor: KANAMORI Norihito, Representative, Southeast Asia Liaison Office