Holding the Seeds in our Hands: A report from the Nan Province Seed Saving Conference

After returning yesterday from our trip to the Seed Saving Conference in Nan Province, in northern Thailand, I started reading the Oxfam Briefing Paper “Double Edged Prices,” a report focusing on the world food crisis and the actions that developing countries should take. The summary’s first page includes,

“Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Foods, a major player in Asia, is forecasting revenue growth of 237 per cent this year; Nestlé’s global sales grew 8.9 per cent in the first half of 2008; Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, reported a 26 per cent increase in revenues from March to May 2008. UK supermarket Tesco has reported a record 10 per cent jump in profits from last year.”

These figures are striking, especially because of Charoen Pokphand’s (CP) forecasted revenue growth, but also because for CP, Nestle, Monsanto and Tesco, Thailand represents a growing market for their agricultural products and consumer goods. A couple of simple examples: most of the chicken consumers buy is grown by CP contract farms, and everyone drinks Nestle's "Nescafe" instant coffee (and mixes in plenty of Nestle condensed milk for extra sweetness). In the case of farmers, purchasing inputs – seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides – is already the norm (and Monstanto has got a good hold on the market here).

Paw Tongloh, a leader of the Yasothon Cooperative, said in an exchange at the conference: “Companies have made farmers slaves to the agricultural system – we invest a lot of labor and money, but what we produce isn’t sufficient to eat and we’re not able to grow for ourselves.” Further, in Yasothon province it’s estimated that more than 60 varieties of rice were lost before AAN seed saving efforts began. For the past three years of working on this project, Yasothon Cooperative members have sought to re-make farmers the owners of genetic material and make it accessible to their community. Yet farmers still agree that there isn’t enough diversity in the seed base and not enough knowledge about seed characteristics.

Efforts like these often stem from problems in our communities – when people are faced with the same struggles, they come together to solve them. Preserving local genetics is an issue of the small-scale farmers’ career and the culture of their community. The Yasothon Cooperative is a good example of how the problem has been addressed and they are now working to raise their members to the level of “farmer-researcher.”

The morning of day one included a visit to the fields of a local “farmer-researcher,” to the integrated fields of Wan Rangtre, who has been practicing rice plant breeding for the past 11 years. In the past year he’s been finding out how successful the use of his varieties by others has been. His work tends to focus on improving seeds for adapting to environmental changes, while maintaining characteristics of older varieties.
Though many groups were inspired by what they saw at Wan’s farm, we returned to a wake-up call from Ubon Yuwa, a leader in the AAN. During the first day’s afternoon session, P Ubon reminded us, “seeds are essential, they are the basis for our food sovereignty, but farmers have been bought by seed companies, using the knowledge of Monsanto instead of their own and using only a few varieties.”
Yet an alternative is emerging within the AAN, as was shown by presentations by P Bresong of the Surin Cooperative and P Daoreung of the Yasothon Cooperative. There are currently 35 families in Surin working on the seed expansion project (almost 10% percent of cooperative production is dedication to seed saving). The AAN Isaan also hosts an annual seed exchange, which builds from the farmers’ group level, to the province and finally, to the regional level. There are currently 103 varieties planted around the network.
Biodiversity on small-scale farms is essential, even in the face of a market-oriented system that demands surplus production of Jasmine 105 rice. The experience of AAN members from the Toongoola area of Roi Et was brought up in discussion later that afternoon – many farmers lost their crop due to a long drought during the summer months (historically the planting season, with consistent rainfall). If farmers had access to rice seeds that could survive in drought conditions, any number of “field rice” varieties, there would potentially be a substantial crop this season.

Being able to sell this crop, however, is a different story. As a researcher from Ubon province reminded the group, “we have the goal of taking local rice varieties beyond farmers’ consumption and to the market, but we don’t yet know how to do it, we must work together to find ways for the to happen.” Consumers continue to demand specific products (e.g. white, Jasmine 105 rice), which is determinant in what farmers produce. Our experience in Bangkok at the Youth and Local Food Conference provided another powerful example of the shift towards Big Box stores (like Tesco, which is claiming a 10 % increase in profits from last year). A question that was raised throughout the event went something like: “how do we deal with the market?”

In a later discussion, the temple’s head monk (shown above with a temple dog that followed him everywhere, a true best friend) also spoke to the problems presented by Thailand’s consumerist society, citing how much land people have been willing to sell off in order to pay off debts or gain quick cash, as well as the fact that when we purchase goods from 7-11 the corporation earns significant profit (7-11 is owned by CP, and the monk’s claim seems well grounded, 237 % or so). In response, he gave the example of 10 baht earned by a local store-owner - this income would be spent in the community, supporting other small businesses, buying fresh, local foods or even donating to the temple – it becomes a cycle of spending local and supporting local.

Another major topic of the conference was the possibility of creating a new network of “community seed centers,” so that farmers could not only use the varieties of their local region and exchange techniques and knowledge with other local farmers, but also ally with those in the agricultural “establishment” who agree with sustainable practices (like the researcher quoted above). In this realm of research/policy-making/development budgets, villagers need to have a role and ensure their benefit from these efforts. Creating such a network of seed research is also an opportunity to create some kind of local plant registry, in turn facilitating sales or distribution of seeds with interested groups (though not for commercial expansion and profit). Below, a tree with bags of local varieties of vegetable seeds given out to participants at the end of the event.

At the policy level, there was much discussion about the need to create clear laws about chemical use, an import tax on chemicals, and warning labels about the impacts of chemicals. Biofuel crops are also an increasing concern (though there is good reason to be suspicious of their viability, especially palm oil, with prices plunging). Farmers also brainstormed about ideas to create policies to promote/support indigenous seeds and to support sustainable agriculture practices.
Paw Thongloh (above, right, of the Yasothon Cooperative) seemed to be overflowing with wisdom throughout the conference. At our final exchange, after a tour of the Joko Learning Center (images below) and a tutorial on vegetable seed saving, he concluded, “farmers are confident in the seeds they purchase in packages, but we need to be the ones who plant, expand and manage seeds, we need to be owners of the rice and plants we grow – instead of consuming foods that have been imported, that we don’t normally eat – we need to be able to plant and eat independently. Seeds are now in the package, and purchasing vegetables at the market is easier, but if we are able to hold these seeds in our hands, we can solve this crisis in Isaan.”

Director of the Love Nan Foundation, Samruay Phadphon

Working together with sustainable agriculture networks in the north will not only help us solve the biodiversity crisis in Isaan, but strengthen the farmers' movement and create new relationships in solidarity and education. We hope that farmers' groups from the north will visit with the AAN in the coming months, and help provide training in vegetable seed saving techniques for the winter planting season. Click the slideshow below to visit our gallery from the conference: