Farmers’ Network for Sustainable Agriculture (2)

By Supa Yaimuang
Sustainable Agriculture Foundation (Thailand)

Sustainable Agriculture has evolved as an attempt to solve agricultural problems. It is a new paradigm that does not only focus on the increase in crop yield or income but also addresses quality of food production issues, respect for local wisdom in giving value to a better of quality of life, paying attention to economic and social dimensions for self reliance of small farmers and creating social support mechanisms for people living together in society. It is also pays respect to farmers’ freedom and allows them to make decisions with one’s own dignity.
When farmers’ networks are formed under the mentioned paradigm, they can be considered part of the development of society. These networks become social movements formed to strengthen farmers’ abilities to solve their own problems. They aim to establish cooperation to uplift farmers’ quality of life and to create relationships among farmers or community organizations. A farmers’ ‘movement’ is formed to support one another on common issues. This is done through cooperative management among members in the community or between communities. The relationship between of members in the network is not static, but stresses on members’ participation. From the experiences of the Alternative Agriculture Network in Thailand, it has been found this network has developed a strong relationship between farmers for supporting one another for the development of sustainable agriculture. It started with basic cooperation for learning processes through joint study trips, the exchange of farmers’ knowledge within the same eco-systems, and the creation of knowledge and knowledge development through informal and formal activities. The network also allows for farmers to mutually work together on market issues for the management of products from the farms to community and to the broader society. This is done through the cooperation between networks such as the network on health, the network on natural resources and the network on community economy. It is also encourages the cooperation of farmers to participate in policy on sustainable agriculture and related policies at local and national levels. The goal is to allow development to create synergy between food, knowledge, local wisdom, and a better life of farmers and community as well as to strengthen the agricultural sector to produce food and livelihood security for Thai people as a whole.
The Alternative Agriculture Network is not working alone but rather is working and collaborating with various actors such as NGOs, academics, government and more importantly cooperation from farmers of other networks and consumer groups. From the lesson learnt, it is found that to strengthen the support needed for networks involved in the development of sustainable agriculture, there is a need of a paradigm change towards a sustainable development concept that addresses the fundamental network processes of learning, information generation, decision making and self development. There is a need to create greater participation of member farmers and other farmer networks to generate more effective involvement in policy issues at local and national levels. There is also a need for greater empowerment of farmers organizations and networks to create ability, strength, freedom and dignity. This will allow the agricultural sector to be meaningful and important for Thai society.

Farmer Network for Sustainable Agriculture

From the study on farmers’ network on sustainable agriculture development in Thai society, it is found that there are a number of groups involved in sustainable agriculture such as the network on chemical free agriculture, the network on health assembly, the network on self sufficiency economy, the Natural Agriculture Foundation, or farmers’ network under supervision of the bank of agriculture and agricultural cooperatives (Tassanee Verakan, 2004 : 11-14) the network under the coordination of Foundation of village (Seree Phongpit, 2005), for instance. In terms of groups and network organizations, they are similar. Most of the networks work loosely but share the same goal and ideology. For example, the network on chemical free agriculture have developed the ideology on Buddhist practice and it is the core teaching in linking people together. The Alternative Agriculture Network has an ideology on self reliance and freedom so that farmers have his/her own dignity as common theme while the concept on self sufficiency economy has tied people together who believe in this concept. It is found that these concepts and ideologies are not in conflict with each other but instead support and strengthen one another.
For most of the work in solving farmers and community problems there are groups of people working together as groups and networks with many types of characteristics, but who share the same goals or try to solve the same problems. For example, there is the network on community forests, the network on traditional fisheries, the network of watershed area, the consumer network, etc. These networks are linked loosely together to solve problems regarding participation of its members. Therefore, the network is the innovation of society which has its roots in the development of community and the practice of helping one another within a geographical area and cultural boundary. The strength of community and society come from the strength of the group and organizations existing in society. The group on sustainable agriculture is only one of many groups in the community and cannot be separated: they are all connected. Especially in agricultural society, peoples’ ways of living, their beliefs and values and other factors have influenced the way of life of the individual. The community is necessary since food production requires cooperation for land use or in other activities which rely on the same ecology, they have to coordinate within the community for things such as common water management or land use. Where there are limitations on production, some communities could not achieve self sufficiency. So they form a system of products exchange which is still existing until now.
At present, the network is a social movement to develop the ability in solving farmers’ or community’s problems. They also establish cooperation to improve people’s quality of life. However, members should have the same goal or share the same framework of thought. It is necessary for the network to have on-going activities. Many organizations and networks stop because there is no interaction or the work, the network did not improve people’s quality of life and way of living or did not solve the farmers’ problems. However, the organization and relation of the network have many forms depending on the agreement made among members. The network will become a strong base for the common understanding of members and their participation in activities to solving their own problems. The network has to implement activities in order to link the members together for the continual development of sustainable agriculture. Networks have a role in creating self reliance for farmers and the community as a whole.

Conclusions and Recommendation

Farmer networks play an importance role in the development of sustainable agriculture systems. They support many activities for linking between the networks, especially learning and sharing activities which are vital in pushing sustainable agriculture forward. The way to solve farmers problems are varied and broad: patterns of production, products management, the link with people in society, including the push of organization to have power in work and solve the problems in agriculture sector. Networks need to be strong, create members’ participation, develop knowledge which can be used at the field level and show a concrete examples in solving the farmers’ problem.
In order to strengthen farmers’ organization and network, the main principle is to respect one another, ensure equity among farmers and support organizations such as NGOs and government agencies. It is also necessary to pay attention to the benefit of farmers and community under the new paradigm, which addresses self reliance, justice, and dignity of farmers and local communities. To strengthen farmers’ group and network, the following aspects should be considered:

1) A change in paradigm and farmers leaders’ and members’ ability to analyse the situation have to be incorporated into each other. The change can happen from people experiences and from sharing thought with others and from the practices that reflect the new paradigm of self reliance through sustainable agriculture system. It is importance to support farmers to review and analyze the situation. Also to support change which will lead to the development of new knowledge, new thoughts and concepts, and achieve goals. Supporting information to farmers group and network will update their knowledge and provide enough information to make decisions in developing sustainable agriculture and pushing forward the work in order that farmers and community can develop plans and direction on sustainable agriculture more effectively.

2) Support learning processes. The development of learning processes is the heart of sustainable agriculture development. Knowledge and on-going development of knowledge will improve and develop sustainable agriculture systems, and it will lead to solviing farmers’ problems resulting in the uplifting of farmers quality of life. Learning processes should be implemented at all levels and in many forms and allow all members to come and learn, and have the potential in developing knowledge by themselves. The exchange of knowledge among members and between networks will lead to the creation of mutual learning as well as a feeling of belonging among group or network’s members. The development of knowledge through participatory technology development or participatory research is another method used in many areas, and many countries. Farmers are the ones who design the research objective and participate in research work including summarizing and analyzing the data collected. This will allow farmers to understand, learn and able to set the objectives based on real needs. It will be appropriate to technology utilization in the field to be able to compare and share the work of outsiders.

3) Mutual planning and the development of joint activities of organizations and networks. This is a tool for the group and network in working together. This involves setting a common agreement and having specific roles in the activities such as farm planning, establishment of local funds, the exchange of seed, product management, or policy setting. Joint activities with an ongoing process will allow the members to work together, know each other and be able to access support when needed. The joint lessons learned will help improve the development of sustainable agriculture and adapt to each situation. It will also show the real practices of farmers, farms and the work of the community in product management.

4) Participation on policy at local and national levels. This can be done by opening opportunity for farmers to have forums or other mechanism which farmers can participate in policy discussions. An example was the 8th National and Socio Economic and Social Development Plan, which allow farmers to learn and push the policy on sustainable agriculture at the national plan. Although providing opportunities to participate in policy discussions is not easy it has created farmers’ confidence to provide their ideas as important and relevant inputs to the policy process. Farmers also participate in developing agricultural plans at the local governance level, and the push to support change towards sustainable agriculture and sustainable agriculture system to be more concrete and effective. At the policy level, there should be clearer support for farm inputs to policy on agriculture, including a mechanism and budget that directly supports the ability to provide inputs.

5) Cooperation among several organizations, including consumers. This will strengthen the network to develop ideas and knowledge. Cooperation can be used to further develop sustainable agriculture systems. The knowledge and lessons learned from others can be applied at family farms. They can make more alliances and create a better understanding with the public and consumers. Effectively, the social space for farmers is legitimately established in Thai society as an important actor in sustainable agriculture development.

References

Alternative Agriculture Network, 1999 Alternative Agriculture : The longway from the policy to practical, the paper for the seminar on “ The strategies to develop Sustainable Agriculture” NESDB, 15 September 1999, page 3-1 - 3-19.

Anusorn Unno, 2003 Sustainable Agriculture Movement in Thai Society, Sustainable Agriculture Foundation (Thailand), Bkk.

National Health Foundation,2006 The Policy to strengthen community empowerment, National Health Foundation, Bkk.

Seree Pongpit, 2005 Network, The strategies for civil society and community empowerment, The institute for promotion of Community, Bkk.

Tassanee Verakan, 2004 The Promotion of Sustainable Agriculture, the paper for the National Health Assembly, 2004. National Health System Reform Office, Bkk.

Vitoon Lianchamroon, 2004 Sustainable Agriculture: Agricultural way for freedom, Alternative Agriculture Assembly 3, Sustainable Agriculture Foundation (Thailand). Bkk.

Vitoon Panyakul, 2001 Sustainable Agriculture : Farming for the Future, (translation), Green Net Publishing, Bkk.