Access to nutritious food remains a critical part of food security. In Thailand, around one in 10 children under five lives in severe child food poverty, while national data show that 13% of children under five are stunted and 7% are underweight, underscoring that food security is not only about having enough food, but also about ensuring consistent access to safe and nutritious diets.
Against this backdrop, Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CPF), in partnership with the Charoen Pokphand for Rural Lives' Development Foundation, is expanding the “Eggs for Next Gen” program, a long-running school nutrition initiative, to 1,030 schools across Thailand, with 12 new schools joining this year. The expansion builds on nearly four decades of efforts to help children gain regular access to fresh eggs as a source of quality protein, while enabling schools to establish sustainable food production.
Launched in 1989, the program goes beyond providing food for school lunches. Participating schools receive support including poultry houses, equipment, laying hens and feed, together with technical knowledge in animal health, farm management, sanitation, production planning and egg management. Students and teachers gain practical agricultural skills, while schools can use eggs for meals and manage surplus production to generate revolving income that helps sustain future production cycles.
The initiative had reached 1,030 schools across 74 provinces, benefiting more than 229,502 students, 17,447 academic staff and 2,690 communities. More than 523 persons with disabilities have also participated in the programme, which targets approximately 28 million eggs per production cycle.
Eggs for Next Gen reflects CPF’s broader view that food security depends not only on producing enough food, but on making nutritious food consistently available, accessible and sustainable over time. By helping schools produce fresh eggs locally, the programme brings quality protein closer to children, supports healthier diets, and builds practical knowledge and capabilities that allow schools to maintain food production beyond a single cycle. In this way, the initiative moves beyond short-term food support toward stronger food self-reliance at the school and community level.
As a global integrated agro-industrial and food company with operations and investments across 17 countries and products distributed in more than 50 countries, CPF advances its “Kitchen of the World” vision by placing food security at the heart of its sustainability strategy. Its global presence helps expand access to food for consumers worldwide, while its approach goes beyond producing sufficient food to strengthen quality and food safety, nutrition, responsible production and sustainable supply chains. Together, these efforts support a more resilient and sustainable food system capable of serving people over the long term.
Kobboon Srichai, Head of Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations at CPF, said: “For CPF, food security means ensuring that people can access food that is safe, traceable and affordable today and in the future. To achieve this, we need to strengthen the entire food system, from production to access. By combining technology and automation, strong partnerships, and advances in biotechnology and nutrition, we can improve both the quality and resilience of the food system. Eggs for Next Gen demonstrates how these capabilities can be translated into practical impact, improving children’s access to quality nutrition while helping schools and communities build greater food self-reliance over the long term.”
With the program now expanding to 1,030 schools, CPF continues to translate its food expertise into practical action. Supporting healthier children, stronger communities and a more resilient and sustainable food system.
