SRI update

This week meant that it was time to check out the seed varieties planted by Natural Agriculture Group (NAG) Tamor Subdistrict on August 5th! The varieties were planted using the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method, which enables a higher yield per plant and high quality seeds, which members can replant over future seasons in order to obtain a pure, organic seed for more intensive production. This year there are 33 varieties being planted by NAG Tamor, among 18 of it's members. This day's activities included visits to 10 members' fields - about 97 rai (about 38 acres) in total were visited. We first went out to the group's small paddy, where 22 different varieties were being planted and took down information about expansion of the plant base, number of plants and other characteristics of the varieties' growth.

NAG Tamor members know how important it is to be sure of the quality of what the group produces and realize that there is much more use to their work than just selling rice. In an export-oriented, monoculture context, producing varieties that yield less than Jasmine 105 per rai makes it apparent that this project is about diversifying one's fields and transitioning into genuine sustainability. These farmers are producing pure, perfect seeds for the sake of preserving their genetic traits and maintaining biodiversity in their fields.
After visiting a few more fields in Donlengthai village, we went over to Tamor village to visit Jansee's seed saving paddies. He is saving over 10 varities on his own, and has become a leader for developing SRI techniques and managing the group's practices for seed expansion. His paddies were beautiful, and ranged from varieties just starting to grow over a foot, to some that will be ready to harvest in a few weeks (this variety, called simply, "Red Rice" was planted earlier than most, and typically has a shorter growing period).

After the day of visiting member's fields was over, Jansee spoke to the group about his recent visit to the seed vault and DNA testing lab at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. He felt strongly that the group was in a good position to start managing more information about each variety they were planting, and clarify the differences between the varieties. By doing more information managing, the group will be able to expand and share seeds and information with other parts of the Alternative Agriculture Network (AAN). As this grows, others will better understand the work of their farmers' group, and they feel that they will reach a new level of success.
While there are a solid number of varieties grown by NAG Tamor, many farmers still grow only 2 varieties (Jasmine 105 and Red Jasmine). Some ideas were also shared about the future of indigenous seed growing, including growing sticky rice with the possibility of selling it at the Green Market (as members currently have to purchase it). One member suggested having a CD made about the varieties planted by the group so that they can promote their work to other members and "help create authority and respect for the activities of Tamor group." There will be a number of follow-up meetings throughout the year to track the growth of the SRI plants and make new plans for the group.

"There is value in caring for the seeds by ourselves"

Expanding into new territory

The "Smiley Garbage" project just gained 50 new members in Tadok community!

Working between SFS' small-scale farmers in Tamor Subdistrict, and urban communities in Surin city, "Smiley Garbage" takes fermented food scraps from the city, transforms them into a liquid organic fertilizer and sells them at a low cost to farmers for use in their fields. Last week, for an "opening ceremony" of sorts, SFS staff were invited to give a short presentation in Tadok community about the background of the project and discuss the details of the weekly food scrap pick up.

The local community leaders welcomed the staff warmly and made a signficant contribution to SFS after the presentation. Sumali, the local Public Health officer and president of Tadok community group, has worked closely with SFS in recent months to generate interest in the community and begin to plan out logistics for the project. With the city's waste stream increasingly overloaded, participating in a project like this is an appealing option for Surin's urban communities. Many project members are proud that their food scraps are going to good use with local organic farmers.

The community also makes unbelievably realistic fake flower arrangements

After a group photo, buckets and molasses (for breaking down food scraps) were given out to new members. SFS has started picking up food scraps this week.

Farm to Market

Check out our new video that follows SFS members, the Briyabring family, as they gather and prepare their organic fruits and vegetables on their farm, and then sell them at the Green Market in Surin. A short video like this helps to create a clear picture of how farmers produce their crops and sell them locally, and we'll be using it to promote the Green Market with local consumers and other organizations interested in our work.

Local, Alternative Energy

A Renewable Source

In the last post I briefly discussed the AAN's stance on biofuels, emphasizing the impact of agro-industry on biodiversity as well as the role of first generation biofuels in the fuel vs. food debate - the increased use of biofuels in the developed world had a direct impact on the rise of food prices throughout Asia. As an organization that focuses on finding local-level solutions to the world food and energy crises, SFS has been working to develop alternatives (see our used-cooking oil biodiesel post). We are also researching other technologies to potentially start new programs in member communities. P' Nok recently met with the chairman of village representatives in the Surin city district to learn more about a few projects, including biogas, and high efficiency charcoal and charcoal stoves.

Manure is shoveled into this hole, which is connected to an underground tank that collects methane for burning in the kitchen stove. There are four biogas systems in use in the subdistrict.

A high-efficiency charcoal "oven" - built using an old 55 gallon drum, high-clay content soil, and a few pieces of concrete pipe.

Bags of high-efficiency charcoal
On the left, a conventional stove. On the right, a high-efficiency stove, there are 320 stoves in use in the subdistrict.
These stoves are produced in Ban Mai, the same village where the local government has begun to overflow it's landfill.

Jatropha waiting to be planted - many farmers are still unaware of it's value as a sustainable biofuel crop (that can be processed locally, within the village). Sugarcane, which had been gaining popularity in recent years and was planted for sugar mills and biofuel, is proving to be a less than viable option for Isaan farmers, mostly because of the high amounts of chemical fertilizers required in production.

Tomorrow is our meeting with the headmaster of Jarun Suk school, to talk about our "Alternative School" ideas...

AAN comes to Surin

Rice Fund Surin hosted Friday's Alternative Agriculture Network - Isaan (AAN) quarterly meeting. The meeting was made up of groups of farmers and NGOs from 8 provinces (Roi Et, Ubon, Yasothon, Mahasarakam, Khon Kaen, Kalasin, Petchabun and Surin). The morning session focused on network mechanics, the responsibilities of the network committee's 25 members and the re-appointing of Bunsong Matkhao as president of the network.
The AAN currently focuses on 7 major issues:
- Developing a sustainable agriculture system - organic seed saving, local variety production and using the network to raise the status of model farmers to be teachers and advisers for other organic farmers
- Agricultural knowledge preservation and expansion - improving the resources available for members projects and creating new opportunities for agricultural knowledge
- Community Resources - moving beyond what is available to an individual farmer and working on a community level to sustainably utilize common resources like community forests and local irrigation systems
- Policies and Movement - creating a relationship between the farmers' movement and government policies by distributing information about government policy plans, agro-industry and other issues to members
- Children in farming communities - working to find ways to promote small-scale, organic farming as a sustainable livelihood
- Network Fund - managing funds to distribute among farmers' groups for local-level projects
- Alternative Markets - establishing Green Markets throughout the Isaan region


The afternoon session was focused on national-level political issues, with several presentations intended to provide up-to-date information about agriculture and trade policy. Satjin, of the Sustainable Agriculture Foundation in Bangkok, discussed the relationship between the energy crisis, the food system, and government policy. With increasing concern about climate change in the Global North and the promotion of biofuel crop production in the Global South, Thailand's agro-industrial economy plans on developing "production zones" for crops like sugar cane and cassava that will then be processed into biofuels. ASEAN is also poised to manage the trade and distribution of "green agribusiness" resources throughout the Southeast Asian regional "community market."

The AAN is critical of this policy-making direction because of the corporate pressure and control that is already exerted on the biofuel industry, the environmental degradation that is occurring in other developing nations around the world as a result of intensive biofuel production, and the threat that expanding monocultures have to the small-scale biodiversity that organic farmers in the AAN are working to generate.

Beyond discussing these political issues, the meeting distributed information to AAN members for local seed saving projects. Above, Presong Seesa-Ard and Arat Saengubon review the most updated seed saving and management materials for the Tatoom farmers' group.

The future of the AAN looks bright

SRI

SRI (the System of Rice Intensification) always marks the end of the planting season for SFS members, who are using the technique this season to save the seeds of over 18 rice varieties. Those who practice SRI reserve a few, small paddies for planting. Rice seedlings are transplanted one seedling at a time and are spaced widely, as opposed to three or four bunched together in the typical trandplanting method. SRI requires less water than typical rice production but also more attention to weeding, as well as an overall increase in labor input. But yields have been consistently high per plant and members have been able to save new seed varieties every season. For more information about it's worldwide use, SRI was recently written about this spring in The New York Times.

Organic lunches and the beginning of the "Alternative School"?

Kanya Ongsri's son, Beep

With the planting season coming to an end, village farmers' groups are now starting various projects in their local communities. Farmers from Donlengthai village made organic guaiteeo (a chinese-style noodle soup) for the students at Jarun Suk and Khok Buk elementary schools on Thursday and Friday. All of their ingredients, with the exception of the noodles, were from their farms - chicken, scallions, garlic, onions and chillies. The soup was served with a short presentation to introduce their organic farmers' group and talk about the dangers of using pesticides in the rice paddies.

The soup being re-heated before it gets delivered to Khok Buk school

At Jarun Suk, students gathered morning glory from the school garden to add to their freshly-made lunch.

Pakphum speaks to a capitvated audience at Khok Buk school

Supin and Samrat serve up some hot soup

Plenty of good conversation about the benefits of organic food followed

The organic lunches were a lot of fun, and all of the farmers were happy to provide a healthy lunch for the young students. A number of rural schools in Prasat district (where many SFS members live) are beginning to take interest in the benefits of local, organic food and in turn, are seeking out SFS members to educate students about their methods.

While still at Jarun Suk on Thursday, a few members sat down to discuss how to approach the headmaster about our "Alternative School" idea

After this conversation, Pakphum and I went to chat with the headmaster about our idea for the "Alternative School"that SFS members have been brainstorming about. The teacher was very supportive and excited about the opportunity for students - we plan to discuss things further on the 20th.

The program would involve taking students outside the classroom for a few hours a week to learn about all the aspects of organic farming and learn some new English phrases related to nature and agriculture. From September to December, the school would focus on eight major parts: a sustainable agriculture overview/introduction, seed saving, planting, soil improvement, pest management, organic livestock raising, "alternative activities" (for example, making biodiesel from used cooking oil) and, at the end of the season, harvesting. We also plan to give the students a "test" at the end of the program, to see what they learned from their experience as well as how much English they learned.

After a recent invitation from an old teacher at Khok Yang high school (who had read about SRI in a Greenpeace publication) P' Rot, Pakphum and I headed over to the school to meet students and talk about the work of local organic agriculture groups. While the way things went wasn't how we plan to do the "Alternative School," it was good practice for working with students.

Pakphum speaks to the class about how organic farming has generated a sustainable livelihood for his family. We spent about 5 hours total in the classroom, as P Rot's teacher had planned.

After the classroom session, we finally got out into the school's garden and starting making a bed to raise SRI rice seedlings.

Thursday Green Market!

While the "main event" is Saturday's Green Market, Thursday's "Mobile Market" is another important source of weekly income for SFS members. Villager's send their produce to the city on a truck, where it is then sold in a few locations, including in front of the Raan Kao Hom - the Rice Fund Cooperative's local organic rice shop. Here are some shots from Thursday:

The always-clever Saluai trying to make a deal with a customer

Some fresh, organic okra and sweet basil

These duck eggs are individually-packaged so that SFS can know how many a member sent to the market on a given day

Some pics from today's Green Market in downtown Surin:

Trash

SFS has always concentrated on working with farmers, but in the last two years, working with urban consumers has become a new focus. This began primarily with the "Smiley Garbage" project, modeled after the Rainbow Plan of Nagai, Japan. "Smiley Garbage" takes food waste from about 100 members in Surin City and delivers it to SFS farmers in nearby villages, to use as an organic fertilizer. In he process, urban members use molasses to break down the food into a fermented liquid. The project has been a great success and we will create a blog post dedicated to it in the near future. Below is a short video of some fertilizer getting mixed up by one of the "Kids Love Nature" members in Tabthai village:




One of the project's successes is an increased awareness about Surin's trash problems, and the Public Health office has used "Smiley Garbage" as a model for dealing with them. Further, with a nearly-full landfill and increasing public pressure, the local government also has to figure out where to put their trash. SFS recently visited the landfill outside the city to meet with villagers who live near it:

The landfill looms over their rice paddies

One villager's collection of skin creams intended to heal the rashes on her hands and feet

SFS is a small organization and it clearly can't manage all of the city's problems. Instead, the Public Health office has been employing SFS as a kind of consultant with communities interested in developing innovative ways to deal with their trash. On Weds. the 6th, P Nok and P Tip led a discussion with an urban community:

P Tip addresses the crowd with the "Smiley Garbage" poster in the background

According to the local owner of a recycling shop, Surin's urban population produces one kilo of trash per person per day. SFS will continue to work with urban communities interested in finding alternative ways to dealing with their trash, like recycling, composting and biogas. We will continue to update about our progress with the local Public Health office - this could turn into some really innovative urban community projects.