Khon Kaen, Thailand – The Don Lak Dam Community in Khon Kaen Province, the northeast region of Thailand has 43 households. The community is a member of the Assembly of the Poor (AOP), a grassroots movement of peasants, the indigenous peoples, the traditional fisherfolks, the forest-dependent peasants and workers. AOP members of Don Lak Dam Community have been struggling for rights to land since 1994. The state claimed that their land is a public utility land, making them encroachers. The villagers denied and refused to move out. Instead, they began the fight for their rights. Up to now, the villagers are able to stop the forced relocation. They are staying on their land and continue the production, but the dispute is not settled.
Until recently, Don Lak Dam villagers do conventional agriculture. The main crops include rice and cassava. They use commercial seeds and agrochemicals. Their problems are identical to farmers all over Thailand: the high cost of production, uncontrollable price, debts, poverty, and food insecurity. The situation is worse because Don Lak Dam area suffers problems of constant drought. As the villagers are in the land conflict with the state, it is impossible for them to get the state’s assistance or services. The village still lacks electricity, tap water and irrigation. Therefore the villagers have to struggle on their own.
The Peasants’ Agroecological Experiment to Fight Drought project started in 2015 by Don Lak Dam Community with support from AOP. The villagers adopted the principles of Agroecology laid down by La Via Campesina of which AOP is a member. The experiment started when the villagers identified their needs which are: water and agroecological production practices suitable for dry and unfertile land. From the 3-year experiment, the villagers conclude their Don Lak Dam Agroecological Practice for Drought Areas comprised the following elements:
- Peasants’ cheap, easy, Do-It-Yourself drip irrigation. The villagers use everything available at hand that can hold water for this drip irrigation including plastic soft drink bottles, broken jars, plastic barrels, etc. to make the device that drip water at the trees.
- Keeping soil moisture in the farms. Banana is a good choice for Don Lak Dam members to grow in their farms because they can keep humidity and also give fruits for extra income. They also grow other fruit trees to increase shade and reduce water evaporation. Another method is the spot-by-spot mulching to save cost but achieving a good result of keeping soil moisture.
- Selecting native food plant varieties (vegetables and fruits) that are drought resistant. Don Lak Dam Community members begin to search for native food varieties that can solve their problems. In this way, they do not only save water and effort in farming, but they can also increase their native biodiversity, food diversity and food sovereignty at the local level.
- Raising animals that need less water. The villagers already raise pigs, cattle, and fish using traditional methods. They also did an experiment on red ants for ant roes. The red ant roes are good and expensive food that the local people love.
- Reducing the economic dependency on cash crops but emphasizing on food. Cash crops such as rice and cassava do not always and necessarily get farmers more cash. In most cases, what they get is more debt. This is the cause of poverty and hunger for farmers. Don Lak Dam peasants are encouraged to put more effort to produce food, as the priority, for themselves, for their families and then local communities.
Because of this initiative, the Don Lak Dam peasants are able to overcome their constant problem of drought on their own. They can now produce plenty, healthy seasonal, and native food for their families and communities. Moreover, they gained the confidence in their capacity and their dignity as peasants. Solidarity among them becomes stronger as they need to solve the problem collectively. Currently, 4 members make their farms the learning and experiment bases for the community.
“We the Don Lak Dam community members have been struggling to survive through trial and error ways for around 10 years. In the past, we did not dare invest in farming because of land rights problems. Now we have a certain level of land security so we will be able to do more. Our village is at a higher level than our neighboring villages. We do not have water resources. The soil is saline and dry. The underground water is saline, too. Water evaporates quickly. Rainfall is less. The water from the dam is released only once a year (in April). We have to travel to a nearby swamp, fill the buckets with water and bring them back in the pushcarts. This water dripping equipment helps us a great deal. We can cut the number of trips to this swamp. We only have to be watchful, not allowing the water in the equipment to dry up. It cannot help in the rice field, of course. But it is helpful for our plan to shift to drought-resistant native vegetables and fruits. We hope to get more income from vegetables and fruits to compensate when the yield of rice is not good. Now we can say we are successful with vegetables. But we must wait a few more years for fruits. We have enough to eat. The next step is to think about selling our vegetables. We learn from other AOP communities about the roadside market. We think we can do but we need to make the production plan together. We need our members to produce different products to ensure that we have seasonal stuff for sale for the whole year. For myself, I am happy with this water dripping equipment. In the cool season last year (2018). I even tried to grow strawberries using it. I tried with 20 strawberries and they give me 5-6 packs of strawberries this year. My customers are surprised and they love my fruits,” says Sunantha Saenbut, a farmer from Don Lak Dam Community.
As a member of AOP, Don Lak Dam has opportunities to get knowledge about Agroecology and Food Sovereignty. Don Lak Dam is also fortunate to have a good stock of knowledge about traditional farming that is helpful in the agroecological project. The community also has long term experiences of working collectively as the peasants are until now in the struggle for their rights to land. Furthermore, Don Lak Dam Community receives many opportunities to learn from other farmers’ organisations both within and beyond the AOP network, using the peasant-to-peasant methodology.
Despite this initial success, Don Lak Dam Community still faces challenges. The community is still unable to access any public assistance or services, including electricity, tap water or the agricultural support schemes and irrigation services. Additionally, poverty in Don Lak Dam Community makes some peasants reluctant to try new agricultural practices.
MTCP2 Thailand recommends for peasants to develop and invest in their production, land rights, and land security. The government must carry out agrarian reform as a prerequisite for peasant agriculture. Although the land conflict is still not settled, the local administrative organization should provide support and services to peasants especially about agricultural development. The local administrative organisation should support peasants to set up a learning center, experiment base or demonstration farm to create and disseminate the knowledge in the community. Development agencies and other organisations should also support peasants to develop various practices of agroecology that are specific to each community.
As the characteristics of each community are varied, there is no instant formula that fits all. Therefore, it is critical that peasants in each community have the ability to analyze their problems, accessibility to agroecology knowledge and creativity to design their own solution. To overcome the problems, peasants must work collectively, not individually. Therefore, the collectivity and solidarity of the peasants’ groups are important. #
About AFOSP-MTCP2
AFOSP-MTCP2 is a capacity building program funded by the European Union (EU) with co-financing from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The program is being implemented in seven ASEAN countries through the consortium Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC). AFOSP-MTCP2 supports the strengthening of national farmers’ organizations (FOs) and their national platform towards improving their institutional capacity to deliver economic services to their members as well as to effectively engage them in policy processes. At the ASEAN level, the consortium AFA – LVC works in partnership with the ASEAN Foundation in expanding the spaces for the engagement of FOs in ASEAN processes.
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