On 24 and 25 July 2025, the Inception Workshop for the Pilot Project on Agricultural Mechanization for Sustainable Reduction of Rice Straw and Sugarcane Trash Burning in Thailand was successfully held in Bangkok. The inception workshop is a joint effort by the Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand and the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (CSAM) to inaugurate CSAM’s pilot project in Thailand. Building on CSAM’s Regional Initiative on Integrated Straw Management, the pilot project will introduce innovative agricultural machinery and capacity building programs to encourage farmers to adopt sustainable crop residue management practices, reducing their reliance on burning.

Dr. Phatchayaphon Meunchang, Deputy Director-General, Department of Agriculture, Thailand and Ms. Lin Yang, Deputy Executive Secretary of ESCAP opened the event. They stressed the significance of mechanization solutions for integrated straw management in tackling air pollution and towards sustainable agriculture, and called for stronger partnerships among stakeholders from government, development partners, research institutions, private sector and local communities to contribute towards the realization of the project’s full potential.

During the opening of the event, a Machinery Donation Ceremony appreciated the generous contribution of four small machinery to the pilot sites, which was arranged in collaboration with the China Agricultural Machinery Distribution Association (CAMDA) during the CIAME Asia 2025 – Thailand International Agricultural Machinery Exhibition.

The workshop’s keynote speakers and panelists presented government policies and measures taken to promote straw management in Thailand. Panelists from government agencies, academia, development organizations, private sector and farmer representatives also shared past initiatives and experiences on sustainable uses of straw as well as challenges and expectations for straw management. Speakers from Nepal and Indonesia also shared some lessons learned from the implementation of pilot projects on integrated straw management under CSAM’s Regional Initiative.

As part of the inception workshop, a visit was conducted to China Agricultural Machinery Training and Maintenance Center and Demonstration Base at the Kamphaeng Saen Campus of Kasetsart University in Nakhon Pathom. The project team also visited the pilot site in Ratchaburi Province and consulted farmers in the local community to understand current conditions, available machinery and ongoing agricultural practices.

CSAM’s Regional Initiative on Integrated Straw Management started in 2018 to address the transboundary issue of straw burning in the Asia-Pacific region through mechanization solutions. The initiative has so far included research and pilot projects in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Nepal and Viet Nam, and was recognized by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation as one of the best practices in South-South and Triangular Cooperation in 2022.  

For more information visit https://www.un-csam.org/taxonomy/term/166