TOCA to link carbon credits calculations to hotels’ “green practices”
The day I landed in Bangkok, social media had literally gone wild with the video of the woman driving in an open-top Bentley with a chained lion in the backseat.
For those of us familiar with Thailand, this is one of those shrug-this-is-Thailand moment, smile and move on. I mean, apparently, there are more than 200 legally owned lions in the country. Her offence was not that she owned the lion, but she took it for a drive, without a licence.
Anyway, I was on my own drive to the annual Sookjai Organic Fair in Suan Sampran, Nakhon Pathom Province, about an hour’s drive from Bangkok. Sookjai means “happiness” in Thai and so when I met a retired professor from the Ministry of Public Health at the event, I asked her, what’s the secret to a long, healthy life?
“Happiness,” she answered with a smile. “Just be happy.”
Well, the Sookjai Organic Fair, the ninth to be held on the last weekend of every January, is certainly one happy place. This year, more than 200 booths were taken up, and an equal number of farmers from more than 20 provinces came to exchange stories and their best organic produce.
Arrut Navaraj opening the 9th Sookjai Organic Fair: “If we can get it to 10% in my lifetime, I’d be happy.”
For Arrut Navaraj, who started the fair as a showcase for his Sampran model of organic farmers, it couldn’t be a happier weekend – to see it grow from a localised farmer’s market to a platform connecting the biggest representation of organic farmers in Thailand to chefs, hoteliers, industry bodies such as Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Thai Ecotourism and Adventure Travel Association, and Thai conglomerates such as Central Group and PTT Global Chemical.
Arrut, who also founded the Thai Organic Consumers Association (TOCA) to drive demand from the consumer side, said beyond the commerce that goes on in the fair – up to 10,000 visitors a year come to buy fresh produce, attend workshops and generally partake of the happiness – it’s “the once-in-year opportunity for the farmers to get together and celebrate”.
Numfhon Boonyawat, TAT (right) with Suchada Yuvaboon, whose family founded the Suan Sampran resort which has been transformed into the RXV Wellness Village.
At the fair, I met the TAT deputy governor for policy and planning, Numfhon Boonyawat, who has been TOCA’s biggest champion since its formation four years ago and who wants to connect travellers to organic tourism experiences. TAT was supporting farmers and operators from two provinces, Phuket and Chiang Mai, who are organizing tours to their farms.
“Most people don’t equate Phuket and Chiang Mai with organic tourism,” she said. “We are encouraging local communities there to start organic tourism experiences to show a different side of Thailand.”
Beyond leisure tourism, TOCA worked with TCEB to launch “Farm to Functions” to connect convention centres to organic farmers and Arrut said 300 tonnes of rice a year was sold under this programme.
This year, TOCA will launch Version 2 of its website that would integrate carbon footprint calculations “on all your green activities from saving electricity and water, food waste management and whether you buy organic or not. Hotels and restaurants will then be able to tell the actual impact they are making on carbon emissions.”
It is working with MTEC, the National Metal and Materials Technology centre, on this initiative. Thailand hotels have set a net zero goal by 2050.
The TOCA platform currently has more than 10,000 members and 1,000 farmers and Arrut said that organic farming now accounts for just 1% of farming in Thailand, by land area farmed. “If we can move it to 10% in my lifetime, I’d be happy,” said Arrut, who’s spent more than the past decade weaving this organic community together.
Another plus of the Sookjai fair is that it is held within the grounds of the RXV Wellness Village, a wellness destination operated by RAKxa Wellness, the integrated wellness company that opened its first retreat in Bangkachao, Bangkok. It has since introduced RAKxa-branded experiences in Tuscany at the Castelfalfi golf resort and spa, as well as operates the RAKxa Wellness Spa at The St. Regis Aspen Resort, in Colorado.
The group has done a good job of transforming the former family-owned Rose-Garden-Suan-Sampran resort into a wellness destination. It’s kept the natural charms of the 60-year-old resort, with all its beautiful trees, plants and flowers, and woven them into a modern and contemporary setting.
On one of my morning walks, I came across a monk on the boat, seeking alms, and preparations for a wedding. My favourite banyan tree was dressed up in wedding regalia, awaiting its first guests. You couldn’t have wished for a more Sookjai moment.
