Stories from the Field
Alternative Energy and Organic Farming in Hill Communities in Northern Thailand
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2 July 2007 Baan Mae Korn is a small community of around 200 households nestled among the steep hills of Chiang Mai province’s Chiang Dao district. On first glance it would seem to be an idyllic northern Thai community: the surrounding forest is remarkably untouched, and sturdy thatch huts and gardens sit in the shade of large old trees. At the same time, the community boasts modern amenities. A one-lane paved road winds its way around the village, and electricity is provided 24 hours a day. Baan Mae Korn is also very diverse – the area is home to people from the Lisu, Lahu and Karen ethnic groups, as well as local northern Thai. The various groups get along well. |
“Even though we don’t understand each other’s languages, we are like brothers,” says Abay, the Lisu headman in the area. The communities have also retained their distinct cultures. Festivals and customs are preserved, and on many days women can still be seen wearing their traditional dress.
But despite appearances, Baan Mae Korn is under threat. The same development pressures being experienced by traditional communities around the world are causing the rapid degradation of the local ecosystem. Families scavenge for wood in the surrounding protected forest to use as cooking fuel. The lack of economic opportunities means that local people are forced to spend their time growing only the highest value-add cash crops – at the present time, corn – making them vulnerable to market fluctuations. Unsustainable farming practices have led to serious erosion on the steep hills and chemical pollution in the streams.
In response to such pressures, the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme, which is administered in Thailand by UNDP, has funded a number of projects in rural communities across northern Thailand. In Baan Mae Korn itself, the GEF Small Grants Programme supports a holistic project combining renewable energy, organic farming and reforestation.
A biogas collector in Baan Mae Korn |
The renewable energy in question is biogas. This has wide application as it relies on an obvious resource that can be found in most rural communities in northern Thailand: pigs. Manure from a household’s pigs is concentrated in a collector, wastewater is added, and the resulting methane gas is piped into the household kitchen for use as a cooking fuel. In Baan Mae Korn, one biogas collector is already on line, three others are being built, and another nine are slated to be set up in 2007-08. For local people, the biogas collectors mean that they have to spend less money if they buy household cooking gas and less time if they collect wood. For the environment, the collectors mean less deforestation and less carbon added to the atmosphere. |
Loyi, a 44-year old Lisu woman with five children, is in line to have her house stove attached to a biogas collector. At present, she estimates that she spends at least two hours a day gathering wood and preparing food. “With the gas, I will only have to spend an hour,” she says.
Loyi |
According to Manop Yangja, the local project manager, the manure from as few as four pigs is enough to provide cooking fuel. With six pigs, a household has enough fuel to power a water heater as well. Households can still use the by-product as fertiliser. With the support from the programme, the only cost to a household of connecting to a biogas collector is the labour involved. Once local people realize the benefits of these sorts of projects, they become more popular and they spread,” said Poonsin Sreesangkom of UNDP Thailand, the national coordinator of the GEF Small Grants Programme. “Even the smallest projects can have a very great impact.” |
As well as biogas, the programme also supports the replanting of native species and up to 2,000 trees in the area, to replace those felled by families seeking cooking fuel. The programme also promotes organic farming to replace the unsustainable farming of cash crops that is now prevalent in Baan Mae Korn. Instead of growing only corn, participating local farmers grow a range of organic vegetables which are then sold through a growing network of “toxic-free” markets in Chiang Mai province.
In Baan Mae Korn, the erosion and pollution caused by current farming practices can be seen clearly. But it often takes time for farmers to adopt organic farming, because it requires a change not only in practices but also in thinking. That said, with the growing popularity of organic produce in towns and cities in Thailand, as well as a small but growing export market, such programmes are growing, and local farmers are reaping the economic as well as the environmental rewards.
“Whether you are talking about using pesticides or using precious forest wood as fuel, these are not problems that just stop at borders,” says UNDP’s Poonsin. “By giving people alternatives, these projects don’t just help improve local ecosystems – they help solve global problems.”
Farming in Baan Mae Korn
For more information, please contact:
Mark S. Cogan, Communications Officer, UNDP Thailand, office: 02 288 1887, cell: 087 972 7435
