The benefits of promoting organic farming in Thailand:
Lower fertiliser imports and new export markets

In Chiang Rai, a 20-minute trip to a vegetable stand outside of town was necessary to buy organically grown vegetables a couple of years ago.

Times have changed and nowadays even downtown supermarkets promote organic foods to their customers.

Rice still accounts for 80% of the organic food grown in Thailand. In the future, when technologies are perfected, vegetables and fruits that use lots of chemical fertilisers and pesticides (cucumbers, jack beans, logan, pomelo) will also go organic.

Many farmers are changing to organic food for export as organic food gains in popularity around the world. Of Thailand's organic farm products, 45% (428 million baht) were exported and 55% (520 million baht) were consumed domestically, according to Green Net's measurements in 2006.

For the organic food industry to really develop in Thailand, programmes that ensure that food actually was organically grown are absolutely necessary. "Certification" and "accreditation" programmes perform the necessary tests to guarantee that food has been grown organically. A certificate is then issued as proof. Buyers can then be sure that the organic food is genuine.

Certification is necessary to prevent fakes on the market and also to teach people the rigorous standards involved in the concept "organic." Fake organic products sometimes make their way onto local store shelves, as organic food becomes popular and people become more willing to pay a little bit extra for it. Some government agencies also still incorrectly believe that "organic" means that some types of chemicals can be used as pesticides. This is not true.

Although there is a confusing array of different certification standards for international markets, the standards of ACT (Organic Agriculture Certification Thailand) are accepted in most countries since ACT is affiliated with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). Organic Thailand, affiliated with the Department of Agriculture, has a certification programme accepted in Malaysia and Singapore and has certified about 2,000 organic farms already. Sometimes farmers obtain certification on their own and sometimes they are helped by export companies and NGOs.

Going organic can also save the country money on chemical fertiliser imports. As the price of oil has skyrocketed recently, the price of chemical-based fertilisers has also shot up. From 2006 to 2010, the plan was for 850,000 farmers to organically farm 16 million rai of land and reduce agricultural chemical imports by 50%.

Farmers can reduce the cost of production by going organic but the transition to organic farming takes time and patience. Farmers must be given the proper support while they are making the transition.

During the first year of growing organic rice the rice can look unhealthy and discourage the farmer. Farmers start using organic fertilisers at the same time as the chemicals they are currently using. Gradually shifting to 100% organic. They have to make their organic fertilisers from leftover organic materials found in their rice fields and fish ponds. For example, smaller sized less valuable fish are fermented with mollasses for 4 to 5 months to create about 600 litres of organic fertiliser. Earthworms are used to plough the soil. Varieties of insects are introduced to help control other insects that destroy crops.

In the end, crop yields can be brought up to their previous levels with chemicals while at the same time saving the money that used to be spent on those chemicals.

Vocabulary:

organic food - foods grown without the use of chemical pesticides, fertilizers, human waste, or sewage sludge, and that they were processed without ionizing radiation or food additives (See Wikipedia) อาหารที่ปลอดสารเคมี

organic farming - farming without chemical fertilizers and pesticides, plant growth regulators, livestock feed additives, and genetically modified organisms, organic farmers use crop rotation, green manure, compost, biological pest control, and mechanical cultivation to maintain soil productivity and control pests (See Wikipedia) การทำฟาร์มแบบชีวภาพ

a vegetable stand - a small outdoor shop selling vegetables by the side of the road แผงขายผักสด

organically grown vegetables - organic farming of vegetables พืชที่ปลูกด้วยวิธีชีวภาพ

times have changed - the situation and peoples' behaviour is different and better than in the past สิ่งต่างๆ ได้เปลี่ยนไปตามกาลเวลา

pesticides - chemicals used to kill insects that eat and destroy plants (See Wikipedia) ยาฆ่าแมลง

fertilisers - chemical given to plants to help them grow (See Wikipedia) ปุ๋ย

chemical fertilisers and pesticides - ยาฆ่าแมลงและปุ๋ยอนินทรีย์

go organic - start using organic farming methods เปลี่ยนมาใช้วิธีการผลิตแบบชีวภาพ

popularity - how many people are interested in something (for example, the food's popularity was increasing and more people were eating it) ความนิยม

Green Net - organisation founded in 1993 to support sustainable agriculture, created ACT certification, connects farmer-owned cooperatives to the organic and Fair Trade agricultural markets (See description and website)

certification - the process of issueing certificates as proof that something is true (for example, that the vegetables grown are actually "organic food") ได้รับการรับรอง และออกใบอนุญาต

accreditation - officially declared to be of an approved standard ที่ได้ประการรับรองมาตราฐาน

proof of Y - evidence (fact, argument) that shows that Y is true หลักฐาน

genuine - are what they appear to be, not fakes or immitations (opposite of "fake") แท้

fakes - things that are not real, pretending to be something but are not ปลอม

standards - an acceptable level of quality or achivements มาตราฐาน

rigorous - strict, careful, and thorough เข้มงวด

rigorous standards - strict and exact standards มาตราฐานที่เข้มงวด

on their own - by themselves, without the help of others ด้วยตัวเอง 

NGOs - non-profit non-government organisations that help poor and disadvantaged people (See Wikipedia) หน่วยงานเอ็นจีโอ

skyrocketed - increased suddenly by a very large amount เพิ่มขึ้นสูงมาก

chemical-based - made from chemicals ที่มีสารเคมีปน / เป็นองค์ประกอบ

shot up - increase suddenly เพิ่มขึ้นอย่างรวดเร็ว

transition - changing from one situation or state to another situation or state การเปลี่ยนแปลง

leftover - remaining ที่หลงเหลืออยู่

fermented - change chemically หมัก 

earthworms - animals that crawl underground (See Wikipedia) หนอน

plough the soil - break up the soil, in order to plant and grow plants  พรวนดิน

crop yields - how much of the plant is produced (for example, bad weather might reduce the yield) พืชผลที่เก็บเกี่ยวได้

Posted by Jon Fernquest at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)