Though small in size and with a limited budget, an NGO in Suphan Buri province is offering green alternatives to Thai farmers and consumers

VASANA CHINVARAKORN

The green fridge in the corner of the room looks so old few would realise its significance to Thailand's future. But inside are samples of thousands of indigenous seeds collected from around the country by staff from the Technology for Rural and Ecological Enrichment (TREE), a non-governmental organisation based in Suphan Buri province.

Packed in tiny plastic bags and stored in boxes are seeds of rare vegetables and fruits you just don't come across on most supermarket shelves.

Among them are ruby red jasmine rice seeds and beside them are what the TREE staff call their "black" counterparts. Both seeds are natural hybrids, discovered at an experimental farm a few kilometres away.

The refrigerator may not look much, but the ancient donation was a huge boost to TREE's mission to promote alternative agriculture among farmers in the Central plains, the rice belt of Thailand.

Originally grain collections were scattered on shelves and a large proportion of them ended up becoming food for mice or going rotten due to the heat.

"When I first came to work here seven years ago, I didn't care much for these indigenous seeds," said Suksan Kantri, a food crops researcher for TREE. Time and exposure to different patterns of farming, however, taught him to appreciate the vital relationship between humans and the crops they grow.

"To change even one crop entails a shift in the whole way of life," he said.

And to this end collecting local seeds remains one of TREE's top missions.

Yields from some of these seeds may be low by some agricultural standards, but the researchers believe they contain the key to sustainability.

Generally, these indigenous species are more resistant to pests and disease than crop strains born in research labs.

And the advantage of diversifying local crops so as to protect an area against being ravaged by potential plagues is obvious.

Unfortunately, during the Green Revolution in the '70s, some local crops went out of circulation - some of them forever.

Mr Suksan estimated Thailand used to have more than 3,500 different strains of rice, but now less than 10 are used, following widespread promotion of high yield strains by international and national agricultural agencies.

It is not known what happened to the rest of the country's indigenous rice strains.

The so-called high yield species now widely in use largely require huge amounts of capital investments in the form of fertilisers, chemical pesticides, and large-scale irrigation systems.

TREE founder and manager Decha Siribhat argues farmers who participate in such capital-intensive systems are subject to three layers of exploitation.

"First they are powerless over matters of pricing and distribution of those inputs. Secondly, they can't negotiate with the middlemen over the prices of their own products. And thirdly, the market dictates the prices of consumer items they use in daily life."

Mr Decha, a graduate in agricultural science, predicts an upcoming Second Green Revolution, brought about by advanced techniques in genetic engineering.

The know-how, concentrated in the hands of a few multinational companies in developed countries will only exacerbate the poor farmers' lack of control in their traditional way of life, he said.

The seedbank is one small step towards breaking that vicious cycle.

Since its inception a decade ago, TREE has compiled and conducted "research" in such an interactive manner that often it is the farmers themselves who test the productivity of the grains.

"On our fieldtrips, we ask locals for a spoonful of food grains," Mr Suksan said. "After we replicate enough of them in our own nurseries, or do cross-breeding, we give the seeds to the farmers in our network and periodically collect information on their growth rates and yields.

"Actually, the villagers turn out to be more efficient than us, as they have more time, experience, and personal interest in the findings."

But the mutual exchange of seeds and shared tasks in the "experimental" work belie the inherent complications in the nature of TREE'S work.

Since most farmers in the central plains engage in market-oriented monoculture, it is not easy to persuade them to turn to non-chemical agriculture.

Although TREE promises to compensate organic farmers by paying more and locating niche markets for their products, the numbers of villagers turning to greener farming methods remains small.

Fieldworker Boonraem Moh-muang said the TREE-initiated network covers about 70 households in Suphan Buri and Kanchanaburi provinces. Most farmers practise non-chemical farming on small plots and refer to them as their "experiment".

"Agriculture here is a serious competition," Mr Boonraem said. "It's a matter of face, be it the size of your harvests or the number of times per year you can do the planting." Making the switch wholesale to organic farming is a big step, he said.

And there is always the issue of economics.

Now in her second year of part-time organic farming, Nok-kaew Changwong, 32, knows the health and environmental hazards of mainstream cultivation methods. Still, she cannot subscribe fully to pesticide-free methods.

"It is simply impossible for me. My landlord charges me a percentage of my harvest. He won't like it if I go organic, so I only do it on my own little plot for personal consumption," she said.

To convert fully to non-mainstream farming requires courage and perseverance. Thongdoem Iamsa-ard, 54, recalled how her neighbours ridiculed her organic experiments.

"I'd used chemicals for many years and then I became really sick. I was rushed to hospital," she said. "When I came out I sought advice from TREE. When my neighbours saw me spreading animal dung onto the soil, instead of chemical fertilisers, they laughed at me. They thought I was strange!

"Of course the harvests are smaller than before, but I get better prices for the organic crops while paying less for the inputs," said Mrs Thongdoem.

"I found this type of farming is an 'alternative' in a true sense. Now I can make a choice, to use herbal pesticides not chemical ones. It also gives me an opportunity to communicate with others through giving and seeking advice on different cultivation methods."

After three years of practising organic farming on a part-time basis, Mrs Thongdoem finally turned her 15-rai plot into a wholly organic farm. Subsequently, she drafted in three more neighbours. Currently the mum-of-three is leading a small but close network of organic farmers of Doem Bang Nang Buad district.

She also runs the village rice mill. Although it is small, Mrs Thongdoem says the "Sahakaset Kao-kwan" mill has never been in the red, and TREE staff visit the place once a month to monitor its bookkeeping.

Mrs Thongdoem's network is just one part of the growing Alternative Agriculture Network (AAN) launched by TREE and 80 other NGOs, and encompassing the whole country.

Mr Decha is the AAN chairman, and his platforms include pushing the government to incorporate alternative agriculture into national policies.

"After a long struggle, we succeeded," said Mr Decha. "The Eighth (National Economic and Social Development) Plan stipulates a quarter of the country's total area of cultivation is to be set aside for the non-mainstream farming within five years. But commitment to the implementation is less forthcoming."

If it does materialise, Mr Decha believes the programmes will empower ordinary people to directly participate in the development process for the first time.

He said past policies concentrated power in the government's hands and suffered from biases and inefficiency as a result.

Mr Decha's group has lobbied the government for a budget allocation to promote alternative agriculture from when the Eighth Plan (1997-2001) was launched.

But the government has cited financial constraints for delays.

Mr Decha is also worried at recent developments in which export-oriented agriculture has been heralded as the country's answer to economic stagnation - and alternative agriculture fades into the shadows.

"It appears policy-makers never learn from past mistakes. They continue to follow the same path of development as prescribed in the first national plan more than three decades ago," said Mr Decha.

His own life is a remarkable shift from well-to-do businessman to NGO worker, and Mr Decha sees the biggest obstacle faced by TREE is changing people's perception.

He said, the market has dominated the public's consciousness - farmers strive to produce more, consumers indulge in modern comforts, and the ruling elites continue to embrace the big figures of gross national product.

But Mr Decha predicts the dawn of a new era, beginning first with consumers having better access to information. With cooperation of Green Net, another NGO marketing green products, TREE staff recently started an organic cultivation workshop for urban people.

To promote the concept of fair trade and open a forum for producers and consumers, TREE has also initiated a villagers' cooperative called Ban Rom Mai which handles products made by the Alternative Agriculture Network. Located at Sri Prachan district, the villagers have since taken over the management of the green shop.

The expansion of TREE's activities has been slow due to limited funding: since it was set up 10 years ago it has managed on a shoestring budget from two religious organisations, Bread for the World and the Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation (ICCO), based in Germany and The Netherlands, respectively.

The current grant will expire at the end of the year.

Mr Decha says working on transforming society at a structural level is a time-consuming process which so far has drawn little support from the general public.

But both Mr Decha and Mr Suksan are optimistic. Comparing his work to growing a tree, Mr Suksan said he could see flowers starting to bloom - and the next step is waiting for the fruit.

Mr Decha said he has never felt discouraged by the magnitude of work left to be done. A decade ago, when he first talked in public about sustainable agriculture, he was jeered by his audience - which included some of his colleagues. At least, now, more people are willing to listen, he said.

As Masanobu Fukuoka, the Japanese farmer who wrote the classic One Straw Revolution said that the ultimate goal of agriculture is not to grow edible crops, but to nurture the seed of perfection in humanity, a tree of a different kind has already spread its roots, quietly and yet firmly.

Info for donation:

Name of organisation: Technology for Rural and Ecological Enrichment (TREE) The organisation was recently registered with the Thai authorities under the name Moonlanithi Kao-kwan (The Kao-Kwan Foundation).

Address: 21 Nane-kaew Road Soi 2, Tharahat Sub-district, Muang District, Suphan Buri 72000

Tel: (035) 500-803

Fax: (035) 521-883

Savings account name: Soon Technology Phua Sangkom

Savings account number: 201-2-18310-3

Bank name and branch: Thai Farmers Bank, Suphan Buri branch

Please send or fax a copy of the deposit to the above address so the foundation can issue every donor a receipt.

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