Regional Consultation on Biochar and Alternate Wetting and Drying Irrigation for Climate-Smart Rice Production in ASEAN
At AIT: our lecturer joins the ASEAN consultation on climate-smart rice production
Ms. Sreyneath Chhun, Lecturer of the Department of Automation & Supply Chain Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Royal University of Phnom Penh, took part as a Supply Chain Researcher in the Regional Consultation on Biochar and Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) Irrigation for Climate-Smart Rice Production in ASEAN, held on 07 November 2025 at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand.
A supply chain voice in an ASEAN conversation about rice
The Department of Automation & Supply Chain Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Royal University of Phnom Penh, was represented at the Regional Consultation on Biochar and Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) Irrigation for Climate-Smart Rice Production in ASEAN, hosted by the Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources of the Asian Institute of Technology.
Ms. Sreyneath Chhun, Lecturer of the department, joined the consultation as a Supply Chain Researcher — bringing the logistics and value chain perspective to a discussion otherwise centred on agronomy, soil science and irrigation practice.
The consultation set out to engage more than 150 participants from across the ASEAN region — including Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand — comprising farmers and key stakeholders involved in rice production and the rice value chain.
Two field practices, one regional supply chain
Rice is the staple of the ASEAN region and one of its largest sources of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. The consultation brought farmers, researchers and value chain stakeholders together around two practices that can lower those emissions without lowering yields — and around the question of what it takes to move them from trial plots into everyday practice.
Climate-smart rice is not only an agronomy problem. Getting biochar and AWD into ordinary practice across Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand is equally a supply chain problem — and that is the perspective the Department of Automation & Supply Chain Systems Engineering brought to the table.
Participants and delegates at AIT
Our delegate
Key details
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Event | Regional Consultation on Biochar and Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) Irrigation for Climate-Smart Rice Production in ASEAN |
| Date | 07 November 2025 |
| Venue | Robert B Banks Auditorium, AIT Conference Center (AITCC), Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand |
| Organiser | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Asian Institute of Technology |
| RUPP representative | Ms. Sreyneath Chhun, Lecturer, Department of Automation & Supply Chain Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering |
| Role | Supply Chain Researcher |
| Participants | More than 150 from across the ASEAN region |
| Countries represented | Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand |
| Stakeholders | Farmers and key stakeholders involved in rice production and the rice value chain |
| Focus | Biochar and Alternate Wetting and Drying irrigation for climate-smart rice production |
“Regional platforms like this one are where our teaching meets the problems the region is actually solving — and where our staff bring a supply chain perspective back into the classroom.”