Pornthida Wongphathakarul

Pornthida Wongphathakarul and her co-founder, Neil Dejkraisak, conceived a sustainable, scalable and irreversible solution to farmer poverty in the form of Jasberry, a social enterprise that produces innovative organic products. Their jasberry rice variety brings higher yields and lower costs for the farmers but also has nutritional benefits for consumers. Wongphathakarul’s organisation connects with farmers, individuals and cooperatives, to train them on how to grow the crop as well as supplying them with high-quality non-GMO rice seeds. They work with the farmers to modernise their agricultural methods and encourage them to share knowledge and best practice. In addition to the transition of crop and methods, Jasberry provides micro-financing and runs an IT programme to help farmers to integrate technology into their methods.