The development of knowledge leads to model farmers

Based on the company's mission to support creative ideas and continuously drive development in all aspects, aligning with its business and social innovation management policies, the company collaborated with its coffee-farmer members in the "Organic Coffee for Forest Conservation" project with forest gardens in Chiang Rai province by establishing a model farmer field school in 2023. The objective of this initiative was to sustainably develop the quality and efficiency of coffee farms through learning process development, the establishment of a shared knowledge system for exchange, knowledge transfer, and skills development from extension officers and coffee-farmer members. This was achieved by employing the Farmer Field School principles and a knowledge development approach for managing coffee farms using appropriate tools for each farmer's specific area, as follows:

  1. Consideration and selection of member farmers with development potential were conducted from 7 villages, totaling 85 individuals. Subsequently, a 3-year historical data analysis of each farmer was performed to identify strengths and weaknesses and to conduct an evaluation. This analysis was used to design individual development plans for each farmer.
  2. Set a target to increase the amount of production per rai and the quality of the product that needs to be developed.
  3. Facilitate learning processes and develop individual farmer development plans.
  4. Follow up on the progress of coffee plantation development of each farmer.

Annual Performance Results for 2023

The summary of the promotion officers in the subgroup meeting during the farmers' learning exchange as follows:

  1. Farmers give more importance to pruning and maintaining coffee trees.
  2. Farmers exchange experiences in developing coffee gardens as an incentive for farmers in the group to follow suit.
  3. Farmers exchange knowledge and demonstrate how to apply fertilizers correctly based on assessment of area, age of trees and soil conditions.
  4. Farmers exchange knowledge and compare the differences of soil in organic and chemical farming plots.