Surin Organic Learning Center: Session 1

Isn't that a beautiful design?

It's been a while since our last post - as usual, SFS and the AAN have been up to a lot in recent weeks. And on the eve of the Organic Learning Center's Session 2, it's fitting to finally post an update from Session 1. We hope to write a post on Session 2 when it wraps-up on the 26th.

Thanks to funding from the Office of Agriculture and Cooperatives – an organization of the Ministry of Agriculture – we were able to organize our first “Village Wiseman’s Center and Development Network” in over two years. There were 33 farmers attending from Ban Khlot, Khok Yang sub-district and from Ban Pru, Grasang district, in Buriram province. P’ Chaiyo, leader of the Ban Pru group and TAO for the sub-district, who has already begun his transition to organic farming, was there to help other members feel ready to start farming organically. Ban Khlot still grows mostly rice, but a lot of sugarcane, rubber and cassava are entering the district. In addition, a lot of the farmers in the group were here because they were concerned about their health and wanted to lower input costs. One farmer from Khok Tohm village has been using chemicals for 46 years – that’s exactly when they were first introduced to northeastern Thailand.

One of the first things we asked the group to think about throughout the session was, “why have villagers changed, and started this movement for sustainable agriculture?”

Day one started off with Paw Samrit’s (former president of Rice Fund Surin) inspiring, passionate talk about the opportunity to farm organically. Land ownership isn’t the limitation; it’s about the opportunity to begin, and by learning together, farmers can find a solution. He also explained a simple input/output cycle: chemicals come in, create ruined soil, health and environment and out comes debt. Farmers will need to take what they’ve learned at the learning center and apply it in their own lives and practices. Forming a group and working together is essential – a farmer can’t do it all alone. P’ Nok added, “maybe we don’t give you money to use, to lower your debts – but organic farming is what you can use to lower them.”

P’ Bresong, who was also presenting to the group, added, “when I was working in Bangkok for a few years, I realized that if I worked these hours at home, I’d be able to make it as a farmer.” P’ Bresong, the president of the Tatoom farmers’ group, a Rice Fund Surin committee member, and a leader in the AAN, has only 8 rai of land and raises 5 cows.

The group watched an episode of “Pandin Thai” - a program sponsored by Thai Health Foundation - about the global “4 Crises” and their impacts in Thailand: society, economy, political and environmental. The section on the economic crisis certainly stood out the most: instead of talking about the credit crisis or bank collapses, they interviewed Isaan farmers who were homeless, waiting on the street to find work in Bangkok. Going to find employment in Bangkok is not a new phenomenon for Isaan farmers, but reality is stting in that this rural-urban cycle is economically unsustainable. The belief that remittances can be the basis for rural livelihoods is being challenged by this current crisis. In the interviews, the farmers were asked about their situation, how they wound up looking for work in Bangkok, and so on. Some answered solemnly about how difficult it was to live at home and the need to find work to pay off debt; that this was how life was for Isaan people.

But a few farmers, sitting outside a temple waiting for some donated food and trucks to come pick them up, were both animated and angry. In one scene, a man runs away from the camera to try and jump in the bed of a pickup truck, but can’t get on – only two men are picked-up per truck. In another scene, when a man from Khorat province is asked why he’s in Bangkok, he answers, “I used to plant and eat rice like my brothers and sisters, but look at this [pointing at the bags of donated food from the temple]. I would plant rice, corn and chili, but I couldn’t survive planting them!! I’d harvest the rice, pay off some debt, and then take out a new loan to buy corn seeds and fertilizers. I’d harvest the corn, pay off some of that debt, and then buy chili seeds and pesticides!!!” He explained an un-ending cycle of debt accumulation that resulted in the loss of land and livelihood – he had no choice but to come and find work in Bangkok. The video was pretty unsettling. But I think it spoke loudly to a lot of the farmers who had come to learn about organic farming – almost everyone had gone to find work in Bangkok for some period of their life.

On day 1, Paw Samrit had emphasized the importance of learning via farmer-to-farmer exchange, and the ways that it makes sustainable practices real. For day 2, we moved into Donlengthai village, which we spent introducing practices and then actively learning them. The morning session focused on soil improvement – green manure crops (atmospheric nitrogen-fixing) like green beans, “pra” beans, peanuts and “snow Africa” (still can’t translate that one) as well as several types of fermented compost, and herbal pesticides. By the end of the morning, farmers answered confidently and in chorus: “Yes!” when asked if they thought they could make organic fertilizers themselves.


The afternoon was spent teaching about seed selection and SRI techniques. There was also discussion about larger issues like corporate control over seeds, which made small things like seed selection more important, as CP is already taking on all aspects of production and markets. The goal of these kinds of conversations is to empower farmers to think for themselves and “plant the seed” for critical thought. Later in the afternoon, we also got a visit from the Office of Agriculture and Cooperatives – everyone got the “sufficiency economy” talk and they stressed, “if this doesn’t produce results, then we’ll stop supporting this project.” Not sure if this was a encouraging message or not…nevertheless, we're thankful for their generous support.

The evening discussion focused on forming a group to support organic farming and village self-reliance. P’ Pakphum pointed out that creating a group is about creating power for yourselves, about creating an alternative - “a demand for fairness and justice” from the government and agri-corporations...he was skipping a bit too far ahead. Thankfully, P’ Jansee got back to basics, “you need clear goals and clear leaders to succeed," and talked about the process of forming their group. To wrap things up, P’ Samrat put out a clear invitation to the group, to continue working with the Donlengthai farmers’ group and that they are here to support new farmers – “we’ve taken this time teaching because we want you to learn and do – please keep in touch with us in the future" (we're also planning to do follow up visits with their group).

After reflection on the first evening, farmers were still unsure about going forward with the transition – despite having new tools to work with. Without a doubt, Farming organically here in Isaan is about changing one’s way of thinking – how do we convince farmers that this is the right move? Or, how do we enable them to realize a solution, a genuine alternative? The organic learning center provided farmers the opportunity to try out new techniques, to pursue the aspects of organic farming that they are interested or feel they may be skilled in. In this way, it’s about taking small steps to build an alternative – making organic compost for the coming planting season or investing in a few piglets to generate lots of free, high quality manure for your fields and pork for local markets.

P Boh jumps into the pen for some demonstration

And so, on day 3, the student-farmers learned about raising organic pigs and making various forms of herbal composts for pig feed and rice paddy fertilization. P’ Kanya – Tabthai village’s livestock wise-woman – gave a clear explanation of the goals of raising pigs, “it isn’t necessarily about the market, but it’s about our organic farming system and creating community food security.” Producing 2-3 pigs for the Green Market every Saturday is largely a by-product of he efforts to lower organic fertilizer costs by raising pigs, yet today she can hardly keep up with the orders for piglets and butchered pork. She also put it right to the young men in the group - who had been horsing around in the front row while she was speaking – “you need to pay attention, learn new skills and so something for your families. Some day, you are going to be grown-ups and some day, you’re going to need to be responsible.” That got them quiet and attentive! Yet all too often youth in rural communities have no interest in agriculture as a career and fall into the debt cycle of chemical farming without ever finding sustainable work off-farm. For the rest of the day, folks got down and dirty, making several types of compost – including a mixture of “Smiley Garbage” with pig manure and rice bran. The afternoon also featured a biodiesel lesson, which everyone really enjoyed. The young guys in the group got to fuel up a tractor with a pre-prepared liter and drive it around the village.

Day 4 brought a representative from the Cooperative Account Inspection office to teach farmers about how to use the accounting books they were given on the first day. Being able to keep track of expenses and income earned is essential for small-scale farmers, who are often in debt of up to 100 thousand baht (almost 3,000 USD). Not a single farmer in the group earned money in the last year. By managing money in paper, farmers can provide proof of how they decide to spend money or how they earn money, which is essential when applying for bank loans or paying off debt.

Once the group got through the accounting lesson, P Nok got out the biodiesel kit to wrap up the process started on the afternoon of Day 4 - the villagers' got to take home a few free liters of biodiesel. Paw Samrit and P’ Bresong came back to bring it all together. Paw Samrit pointed out that pursuing alternative agriculture is about “finding a place to stand” – it’s a process and way to develop and though the ecology isn’t the same in every farmers’ fields (thus providing different environmental challenges), “in the end, you’ll smile like champions.” He continued later, “we always look in front of us, see others and ask, ‘how do they do it?’” But we need to be able to see what we have and what we’ll be able to do – maybe making biodiesel is jumping too far ahead – we need to able to feed ourselves, first.”

Maybe this answers the question of why farmers have switched to farming organically?