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1/ Oil Palm Agroforestry
1/ Oil Palm Agroforestry
Background (click to expand)
Background (click to expand)
What's the problem?
The palm oil industry is an extractive industry linked to deforestation, land degradation, disease spread, and economic vulnerability for small scale farmers (usually managing <10ha of land). At the same time, global demand for oil palm is projected to increase in the coming years.
What's the solution?
Palm oil agroforestry, where oil palms are cultivated alongside other productive trees and short-term crops, offers both economic and ecological gains compared to palm oil monoculture. Studies have demonstrated that agroforestry offers a myriad of benefits for smallholder farmers, including by increasing per-hectare profits, diversifying income, and improving on-farm biodiversity.
Why has the solution not been implemented at scale in Southeast Asia, where almost 90% of palm oil is produced?
While our fieldwork has demonstrated significant farmer interest in oil palm agroforestry, there remains four structural barriers to implementing agroforestry at scale:
Agronomic design. Farmers lack the technical expertise to design agroforestry systems tailored to both biophysical and socio-cultural conditions.
Financing. Farmers lack affordable capital to finance replanting costs and bridge the income gap before new crops mature.
Field implementation. Agroforestry involves the introduction of new crops which farmers may not be familiar with, but existing training methods are time and resource-intensive, and do not reinforce knowledge through repeated exposure and communities of practice.
Market access. Reliable buyers for non-palm crops do not exist at scale. Farmers want to focus on working the land, and feel unable and unwilling to become supply chain entrepreneurs themselves.
I co-founded KUDUK (Kebun Untuk Dunia Kita - "garden for our world" in Malay), with my Stanford classmate from Malaysian Borneo to tackle the challenge of scaling agroforestry. KUDUK is a social venture designing interventions to scale agroforestry initiatives in Borneo and beyond.
In our work, we took inspiration from Professor Rodolfo Dirzo's oil palm agroforestry trial plots in Costa Rica. Together with our implementing partner, Forever Sabah, we have fundraised over $215,000 from a variety of funders including the UK government's CARA program, Stanford's TomKat Center, and the Stanford Accelerator for Learning. We are also collaborating with the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) to implement our pilot agroforestry cohort across ~70 acres.
Our work in 2025 included...
Baselining Surveys
Baselining Surveys
Environmental & socioeconomic surveys, deployed by teams of Research Assistants (RAs). Most of our RAs were from indigenous communities in Borneo.
Agroforestry Workshops
Agroforestry Workshops
Agroforestry workshops led by agroforestry scientists & Forever Sabah's field team.
Digital Learning
Digital Learning
Farmer knowledge videos to reinforce workshop learnings, emulating short-form farming content that many already follow.
Farmer Archetyping
Farmer Archetyping
To effectively design agroforestry systems according to different farmer constraints and needs, we designed a digital quiz that illustrates labor, income, and environmental constraints.
Early Farm Trials
Early Farm Trials
Our most eager farmers are implementing a 4m x 21m agroforestry "trial" plot that serves as a demonstration of agroforestry principles to the surrounding community.
Strategy Paper
Strategy Paper
Our work implementing the agroforestry pilot and path forward is documented in a comprehensive strategy paper and used in funding conversations. Contact me if you'd like to read it!
If you'd like more information about this project, or know funders who might be interested as we apply for funding to take the pilot forward, please contact me!
2/ Rural Electrification
2/ Rural Electrification
Background (click to expand)
Background (click to expand)
What's the problem?
The state of Sabah, located at the tip of Borneo, hosts 72% of unelectrified Malaysians. The Sabah Renewable Energy Rural Electrification Roadmap (SabahRE2) is a consortium of non-profit organizations that have created a 10-year roadmap to electrify 206 villages, reaching complete electrification in Malaysia.
What's the solution?
SabahRE2 builds minigrids, off-grid energy systems that generate and distribute power for rural and unelectrified communities. These minigrids are primarily solar or hydro and replaces costly & polluting diesel generators that many households currently use.
I was invited with my Stanford classmate working at the Central Bank of Malaysia to explore financing options for the minigrids involved in Sabah's goal to reach 100% clean electrification by 2040. I visited multiple unelectrified (or recently electrified) villages in August 2026 to learn about implementation realities on the ground, so when we design funding strategies, we can bridge the two together.
If you know funders interested in electrifying rural communities, I'd love to connect.
Using a Solar Pathfinder tool for a feasibility study in Tongod district.
Powerhouse construction for minigrid in Ranau district.
Minigrid in construction in Ranau district.
Community mapping to locate the hydro system around key village sites.
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