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The Poblaki Agricultural Cooperative
The construction of an agricultural cooperative in the village of Poblaki will have to lay the foundations of a collective and reasoned agriculture. This cooperative will, in the long term, by controlling the storage of grain and the pooling of tools, to influence the choice of seeds. The decrease in costs following pooling, as well as the control of sales channels (eve of grain prices, for example) will lead the villagers, by incitement, to change their farming habits and to get out of the "all corn", which has made the fortune of resellers and seed companies much more than that of villagers, victims of both the over-indebtedness resulting from the fall in the price of harvests, and the dramatic health and ecological consequences of the massive use of pesticides (water pollution deforestation).
A reasoned agriculture
In addition to mountain rice for the consumption of villagers, the agricultural regime in the karen mountain is monoculture. The extremely rapid arrival of modernity has generated new needs and exploded the fragile domestic economy of families. It was necessary to look for new sources of profit. The mountain rice, planted and harvested by hand, and intended for the consumption of families, is not competitive with the extensive agriculture of the Great Thai plain, villagers have turned to corn. Planted in the early days of the monsoon and harvested before the hot season, it takes advantage of the rains, most mountain lands can not access irrigation. Introduced in the karen mountain ten years ago by the big seed groups, it is a GMO seed unsuitable for human consumption and intended for animal consumption. This radical change in culture, in a region shaped since centuries through subsistence farming, is not without serious ecological and health consequences. It is therefore urgent to propose an alternative respectful of the environment and economically credible.
Mecanisation
The karens exploit their land with the force of the wrist: the relief prohibits any attempt to mechanize plowing and harvesting. The clearing is done by hand and, in fact plowing, it is a small hole dug by means of a bamboo which will collect the seed with the first rains. Harvesting takes place in January, and the hand-picked ears must still be transported on man's back to the threshing air. Maize threshing is sometimes still done by hand, but more often with a threshing machine rented for the occasion. The manual crops, besides being physically exhausting for the peasants, are of a mediocre profitability: the land having not been returned, the seed struggles to find its subsistence, which requires the massive use of fertilizers. In addition, seedlings made "haphazardly" greatly limit yields.
In order to make the work of the villagers profitable, the cultivated area should be reduced, but it should be better exploited. In order to mechanize crops, low slopes are required. The goal is to select the least rugged lands, and dig where to do it "narrow" steps on the hillside that will allow the tractor to move.
This work can not be done by hand: the tractor of the mission and later a backhoe-shovel will be very useful here. The aim is to make better use of smaller areas, and to return to the forest (reforestation) plots that are too difficult to access. Mechanization will finally reduce drastically the use of fertilizers and pesticides, thus limiting pollution of land and water.
A paradigm shift
If these technical changes have a price, they are not absolutely insurmountable. The real difficulty lies in the change of mentalities:
- pool the agricultural tool to escape from individualism
While visiting these tiny isolated hamlets in the mountains, one imagines a life of village punctuated by works in common. The reality is quite different: each family jealously guards its independence and exploits its own land, buys seeds and fertilizers necessary for its plot and organizes the transport and sale of its harvest. The good years, when the price of grain suggests a better future, we go into debt over several years to buy his own car that will carry his crop. In addition to the social danger that the heavy credits (over-indebtedness) weigh on a family, this individualistic organization limits the profits: small volumes, small gains. Without pretending to go to the pooling of land, the pooling of tools will maximize profits and limit losses. The transport of grain and fertilizer in a truck and not in an individual car will finally make it possible to negotiate at best the prices of purchases and sales, with the dealer who offers the best rates.
- leave the assistantship
It is clear that our presence in the villages did not allow a real economic autonomy: the very heavy investments of the mission were able, in spite of their real utility, to install the villagers in a form of assistanat. Free schools and centers, more or less justified "gifts" (individual solar installations, distributions of rice, clothing, etc.) have had a deleterious effect on the mentality of the village karens, by limiting the initiative. and making villagers passive recipients and not actors in their own development.
Cooperative operation
In addition to allowing real economic benefits, the operation in cooperative must especially allow the Karen themselves to take charge of the development of their village, and work together to it. The pooling of agricultural tools forces the partners to come together to discern together what will really benefit the village. Too poor to invest in such an infrastructure, karens can count on the mission to help them equip themselves. The short-term goal is to enable the cooperative to be independent of both the mission and the partners, and to be fully managed by the karens themselves, who will be the sole owners and managers.
It is illusory to want to change the economic model abruptly. The goal is to start, on a voluntary basis, with some very motivated families. The savings and profits made by these will lead other families and neighboring villages to join the project. Similarly, one can not hope to get out of the "all corn" by the constraint. Also, the cooperative will initially support the villagers in the cultivation of maize, before proposing by incentive, in a second time, seeds more respectful of the environment and more economically interesting (market gardening, high altitude species, coffee, etc.).
The Poblaki Agricultural Cooperative
Designed in consultation with the villagers, and thanks to the generous architectural work of Mr. Ryo Sakai, the cooperative will have:
- a grain market, to store crops and allow the sale at the best price.
- a desk
- a threshing floor, to dry the grains
- two garages, for storing vehicles (a tractor and a truck) and tools
- storage space for storing fertilizers and pesticides.
The cooperative will finally have an independent solar system, for lighting and the office, as well as a mobile coverage (antenna) to monitor courses and contact resellers and suppliers.
Cost estimation
Purchase of the land 30 000 THB
Transportation of materials 150 000 THB
Materials 300 000 THB
Labor 350 000 THB
Electrical installation 40 000 THB
Supplies 30 000 THB
Total 900 000 THB (25 700 euros)
The cost of this construction exceeds the financial capacities of the mission, and even more the modest means of the villagers. However, we believe that it is very necessary and represents an indispensable investment in a village like Poblaki, which suffers from the serious ecological and sanitary consequences of the agricultural model of "all corn", and gradually sees its young people going to work in the city, for want of to be able to live decently from their work in their village.
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