• Home
  • IFAD website
  • Subscribe to posts
  • Subscribe to comments

Khao Kwan Foundation: “the Ministries must work for the farmers”

Posted by Ariel Halpern Friday, October 25, 2013 0 comments

Khao Kwan Foundation: “the Ministries must work for the farmers”

“Developing Rural Territories through Business and Knowledge: The Thai experience
with the OTOP and CLC”. Journey Diary.



Mr. Daycha Siripatra, founder and chairman of Khao Kwan Foundation
 Muang District, in the Suphanburi Province of Thailand—distant some 120 kilometers from Bangkok—is home of the Khao Kwan Foundation (KKF), a Community Learning Center focused on improving the production of rice.

Mr. Daycha Siripatra, founder and chairman of the institution, has been working for three decades in the integration of local knowledge and scientific discoveries to improve seeds, soil and pests insect management.

Modern agriculture involves processes like straw burning, purchasing of seed rice from corporate providers, machinery to plow the fields, chemicals to control weeds and pests, and spreading of weedicide and pesticide, plus the use of chemical fertilizer. Besides, harvesting using heavy machines tend to pack the soil and waste seeds, while there are lost battles against more and more resistant generations of pests like the brown plant hopper and orange leafs. Over the years, farmers using those techniques developed dependency on agrochemicals and became debtors of credits while many of them ended up into bankruptcy. On the other hand, organic rice farming includes organic compost as a starting point for fields plowing, green manures, local herbs as pest repellent, plus herbal insect control.

KKF’s training crew is based on self-reliant outstanding farmers who have built a collaborative effort to develop organic rice farming as a cheaper and more productive way of producing high quality rice involving improved and tested traditional and new techniques like microorganism cultivation, multiplying liquid microorganisms, bio extract, and natural insect control and pest management.

Thailand’s critical move from poverty, based on the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy promoted by the King, depends on reducing expenses while improving the family income. Rice seed improvement, cheaper production and breaking of the dependence on agrochemicals are some of the main outcomes of KKF’s solution for rice production. However, Siripatra is concerned about a weakness: while public policies should support organic ways of producing cheaper and better rice, ministries of agriculture over the world tend to endorse the global corporate strategy to create dependency on agrochemicals. “Ministries must work for the farmers, not for the corporations,” he added.
Mr Siripatra explains the advantages of the KKF techniques to participants of the Learning Route.

Participants of the Learning Route recognized the high value of such solutions and the clear chance of replicating those procedures in their own countries.

If you want further information on this Learning Route visit www.asia.procasur.org contact Mr. Ariel Halpern at ahalpern@procasur.org. And follow us during the Route trip at: www.facebook.com/procasur.asia 


How to feed the world

Posted by Roxanna Samii Thursday, October 24, 2013 0 comments


by Kevin Cleaver
Associate Vice-President, IFAD

I am glad to see small farmers getting their due as key players in world food security in Mark Bittman’s article entitled “How to feed the world”, in the inaugural edition of the International New York Times. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a UN agency and international financial institution, has been exclusively focused on investment in rural people and rural areas, with a focus on smallholders throughout its existence.  In our view it is important to recognize that farming, at whatever scale, is a business. Terms like ‘peasant farming’ or ‘traditional farming’ evoke for many people the notion of subsistence agriculture, and peasants living in blissful harmony with nature. The truth is that many peasant farmers struggle, many are poor and ironically constitute the majority of the undernourished in the world.  Smallholder farmers need what other businesses need—access to finance, markets, infrastructure, technology, the tools and knowledge to grow their businesses, get their product to market and increase their incomes. That is their route out of poverty. It’s important to avoid black-and-white dichotomies between ‘big ag’ and ‘little ag’, industrial or traditional etc. Agricultural research, for example, can be of benefit to small farms as much as large.  Small farmers need new technologies, adapted to their farming circumstances.

Smallholder farming needs support; the question remains of who’s going to provide that support. There are critical roles for government, the private sector, development agencies and consumers.

Integration of smallholders into higher-value market chains calls for a proactive role by national governments in terms of food safety standards, building infrastructure, and making the policy and legal environment conducive. That includes protecting the rights of small farmers—a large proportion of whom are women who face inequality and barriers to access to land, credit, education and advice. Strong producers’ associations managed and owned by small farmers can make working with small farmers more attractive to the private sector and also help safeguard their interests. And the private sector has to come equipped not only with finance but also with respect for rural people and the local context.

To achieve food security, a sustained increase in agricultural productivity is required,  with more focus on those small farmers who tend to be the most neglected: youth, women, other disadvantaged social groups and indigenous peoples.

At the same time, climate change poses grave threats to human well-being, and smallholder farmers are among the first to be effected. A much greater emphasis on farmer adaptation to climate change is imperative. And natural threats are not the only ones increasing--food price volatility and other shocks play havoc with the well-being and lives of rural populations. Policies that mitigate such risks and enable vulnerable people to cope with them need to be implemented.

Lastly, the rural world isn’t only about agriculture. Strong farm/non-farm linkages must be fostered to create future jobs within rural areas for rural populations, so that there is an alternative to migration to the cities or to foreign countries.



Successful first day of Learning Route on Business and Knowledge for rural development in Thailand!

Posted by Ariel Halpern Tuesday, October 22, 2013 0 comments

Successful first day of Learning Route on Business and Knowledge for rural development in Thailand!
The Learning Route “Developing Rural Territories through Business and Knowledge: The Thai experience with the OTOP and CLC”, had a fruitful installation in Bangkok on Monday, October 21, 2013, with 40 participants from Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Nepal, Peru, Rwanda and Thailand.
Mrs. Cecilia Leiva, President of Procasur Corp., the hosting nonprofit, started the Opening Remarks accompanied by Mr. Pallop Tanjariyaporn, Thailand’s Chief of International Relations Unit, Planning Division, Community Development Department, Ministry of Interior, and his colleague Mr. Praser Malai, Director of Agricultural Technology and Sustainable Agriculture Policy Division, Office of Permanent Secretary for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
Dr. Chamnan Wattanasiri, a Thai expert and practitioner on Community Development, facilitated the panel “Policies and programs for economic growth and poverty reduction in Thailand”, with the two high-level government officials.
Malai presented the Thailand Public Policy in Agricultural Sector and highlighted knowledge and moral as the two conditions for a successful Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej developed his New Theory on Agriculture as a practical example of the application of such philosophy as “a guiding light to a sufficient way of life, food safety and security, reduced expenditure, self-reliance, and alleviation of poverty in households and communities,” Malai added.
Tanjariyaporn complemented the panel with the example of the Community Development Department (CDD) established in 1962 to improve the quality of life of rural Thais “by enabling them to help themselves.” Today, the CDD has a staff of 7,000 employees, half of them working in villages as Community Development Workers, based on a network of 75 Provincial Community Development Offices. 877 District Development Offices plus 14 divisions and bureaus.
The day finished with the Learning Route Experience Fair, aiming for each team to identify and share their areas of innovation with the other participants and to encourage inter-participant exchange during the Learning Route.
The event is part of a South-South collaborative framework implemented by the Agricultural Technology and Sustainable Agriculture Policy Division (ATSAP) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) and the Community Development Department (CDD) of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) of Thailand with the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD-UN) and the Procasur Corporation.
As part of this Learning Route a publication in English and Spanish on the Thai OTOP and CLCs has been published, you can download it from here:

River of Learning Share Fair, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Posted by Wairimu Mburathi Friday, October 18, 2013 0 comments



Linking food systems and water resource management to bring about a new paradigm for sustainable development

On 16th October 2013, to commemorate World Food day and achievements made in agricultural water management sector in celebration of their tenth anniversary, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) hosted a ‘River of Learning’ share fair. The series of meetings to be held over the next 3 days gathers farmers from across Ethiopia, and over 100 people from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research CGIAR centers and various partners, including IFAD, to integrate knowledge on water and natural resource management through the exchange of experiences and assessments of common activities to improve and coordinate future efforts.

The chairperson for the Water, Lands and Ecosystems steering committee said that the share fair was an opportunity to gain an insight on the future challenges to be addressed by partners over the next ten years.  Increased economic productivity has brought about a negative impact on the environment, calling for a paradigm shift to place sustainability at the centre of development initiatives. He encouraged a grand experiment to be undertaken amongst CGIAR’s and partners to connect efforts and strategically make a major change to development efforts, emphasizing that agriculture can be a part of the solution to build resilience and support sustainable development and natural resource management within key regions, such as, the Nile Basin. 

Linking efforts to bring sustainable development to the fora, and the World Food Day, speakers stressed the importance of promoting sustainable food systems as a means to drive about new changes and dynamic efforts amongst water, lands and ecosystems partners. Farmers do not degrade land out of their own volition, and it was emphasized that inequitable power dynamics determining farmer's access to basic services and socio-economic resources, cause them to degrade land. Addressing socioeconomic marginalization will ensure conservation of land and water resources for future generations. Hedrom Haileselassie Assefa, a farmer from Mekele region pressed all stakeholders to transform their thoughts into action saying, “let this discussion not remain in the air, let it become a reality because we are fighting against a common enemy, poverty.” These key points beckon the question of how practitioners can centralize sustainable development within ongoing IFAD initiatives.

The event was an opportunity to openly exchange ideas and information amongst water management stakeholders as display booths, learning cafes and interactive forums were established to exchange knowledge, explore potential areas of collaboration and partnerships. For example, participants were invited to write their significant achievements and place them on the “communal river of learning” board sparking discussions on achievements, and the way forward amongst water management efforts across the African continent. Discussion and exchange over the next three days will focus on strengthening the Nile Basin Development Challenge, a partnership with national actors to address land and water issues at a landscape scale; IMAWESA – an IFAD-funded water management best practice network across east Africa, and the Global Water Initiative. 

An interactive board mapping stakeholder’s water resource management  achievements over the past ten years.


Participants inquiring about water and resource management activities in Ethiopia, at the IFAD exhibition stand at the ‘River of Learning’ Share Fair.

Una invitación a vivir la sabiduría de Tailandia. Desarrollando mercados con inclusión social

Posted by Ariel Halpern 0 comments

Ruta de Aprendizaje
 ¿Cómo impulsar el desarrollo de territorios rurales
mediante los negocios y la gestión del conocimiento?
La experiencia tailandesa con los OTOP y CLC
21 - 28 Octubre, 2013 - Tailandia
Una invitación a vivir la sabiduría de Tailandia

Desarrollando mercados con inclusión social

¿Es posible el desarrollo de mercados con inclusión social? Sí, pero es el más esquivo de los logros entre nuestros países. Tailandia es una de aquellas experiencias en el mundo que puede mostrarnos algunos caminos, tanto los que debemos seguir como los que sería mejor evitar.
El Reino de Tailandia es uno de los países menos urbanizados del Asia. Casi dos tercios de los Tailandeses viven aún en áreas rurales. Su identidad como nación está en el agro. No es de extrañar, entonces, que “la tierra de los libres” (la palabra Tai significa libre), constituya un fértil suelo para innovaciones en diversos ámbitos, entre ellos el mundo rural. Tailandia aspira a ser un pilar para la Asociación de Naciones del Sudeste Asiático (ASEAN). Para ello, innovar es un requisito. Y hacerlo a la propia medida, el mayor desafío.
Tailandia ha puesto en marcha una estrategia de desarrollo agrícola y rural de gran escala, tan visible como su extensa red de carreteras y líneas férreas o el desarrollo del turismo y la industria. No obstante, la inversión en el desarrollo del capital humano y empresarial de los tailandeses les parece a algunos aún más notable. Eso sí, a veces permanece algo oculto para el resto del mundo.
Por ejemplo, hay una presencia muy significativa de talentos locales, acá llamados Prach Chao Baan, en su mayoría autodidactas, quienes autónoma y privadamente manejan Centros Comunitarios de Aprendizaje y entrenan cientos de campesinos cada año. También cabe mencionar la proliferación de negocios y emprendimientos rurales en cada rincón de Tailandia, los cuales son experiencias de valor global, especialmente para un creciente sur global.
Esta Ruta de Aprendizaje es una invitación a conocer en profundidad, de primera mano, en la casa y desde la voz de los protagonistas, los momentos felices y tristes de una muestra de diferentes estilos de Centros Comunitarios de Aprendizaje y de territorios con mirada empresarial, los cuales, asociados al sistema Un Distrito un Producto, conocido en Tailandia como OTOP, le sacan provecho a sus riquezas naturales y culturales.
Enmarcado en el espíritu de la Cooperación Sur-Sur, el Ministerio de Desarrollo Agrícola y de Cooperativas, el Ministerio del Interior de Tailandia, el Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola (FIDA-ONU) y la Corporación PROCASUR, han congregado voluntariamente y con alto compromiso a 40 personas. La cooperación construyó un puente, por el cual la gente traerá y llevará un equipaje de ideas nuevas y muy prácticas.
Son 40 practicantes del desarrollo rural trabajando por el cambio a favor de las comunidades rurales de Latinoamérica, África y Asia. Representan toda clase de instituciones y trayendo consigo experiencias seguramente complementarias e incluso en ocasiones, contradictorias.
Vamos a un encuentro con la sabiduría de siete provincias del centro de Tailandia. Las recorreremos juntos, con poco más que un lápiz y una libreta. Por eso, esta invitación no es a estudiar sino a vivir la la sabiduría de Tailandia.

Vísite www.asia.procasur.org para más información y síganos en Facebook: www.facebook.com/procasur.asia 


Playing with climate change – through the fun comes a serious message

Posted by Ann Turinayo 0 comments


By Ann Turinayo and Katie Taft

Laughter fills the small conference room in Nairobi, Kenya. After two days of talking about the gender, land and climate change issues impacting rural communities in East and Southern Africa, participants of IFAD’s regional Knowledge Management and Capacity Building Forum welcomed the break from powerpoint presentations.
“It doesn’t matter, adults and children love to play games,” said Périn Saint-Ange, Director of IFAD’s East and Southern Africa Division as he looks on at IFAD staff members and partners playing “the River Climate Game” developed by the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. Games are a fun but serious way of helping people, even development practitioners, unpack the complexities and uncertainties of climate change. 
FAO's McDowell gives instructions to the
two villages ©IFAD/Ann Turinayo
Following the instructions of game-master and FAO food security consultant, Stephen McDowell, participants divided themselves into two “villages” or teams across a “river” of rope that cut the room in half. Both villages were told they were growing a traditional crop of maize. With the changing seasons, however, the two villages are told they are living a life of chance because when it rains too much, they lose their harvest and when the sun shines too much, they lose as well. These days, it is rare that the villages have suitable weather to get a good harvest. “Your chances are that one out of three seasons will give you a harvest considered good enough,” McDowell told the players.

Once the game is in play, each village is given five seeds to represent the crop they are growing. Then, in comes an NGO with a supposed solution for the two villages. They are introducing two new crops – cassava and rice. The villagers have to choose to grow either of these two crops and give up their traditional crop of maize. Some choose cassava, others rice, and still others stick to maize. Unfortunately, the NGO has no guarantee that choosing either of the new crops will necessarily mean a good yield. “The NGO does not control the weather patterns,” McDowell reminds the players. “You have no choice, you just need to plant, plant, plant and hope that you are on the right side of fate.”
Payback time - Gender Specialist, Elizabeth Ssendiwala
returns her seeds. ©IFAD/Ann Turinayo 

A chosen “rainmaker” tosses die to determine the fates of the villagers. If it falls on six, it means a lot of rainfall. For those growing rice, they are given an extra seed (a lot of rain is good for growing rice) while those growing maize and cassava lose a seed. If a person loses all their seeds, it means they are “ruined” and have to leave the villages – maybe go try their luck in the city. At the end of the play, only a few people have seeds in their hands – some are the cassava growers, others are the rice growers and some are the maize growers.
"I will grow maize," says Nadine Gbossa, Kenya Country
Director ©IFAD/Ann Turinayo
“The thing that occurs to me when watching is there is always someone who will survive – maybe it comes down to chance, or maybe it is something else,” McDowell comments once the game has ended and the laughter has died down.
“We don’t always know what is in the best interest of the rural people themselves. For example, did anyone really win by staying in the village, did they win by going to the city? The truth is that we don’t actually know as it is not an exact science and we need to consider that.”
No business as usual
The implications of the game further emphasize the messages shared by the presenters at the ESA forum – in dealing with climate change-related issues, it cannot be business as usual. As Saint-Ange said in his opening remarks, “we have to reshape our agendas to be able to address the various cross-cutting issues such as land, climate change and gender.”
The policy aspects that create an enabling environment for smallholders to thrive even with the climate change issues also have to be put into consideration. Integrating climate change, land and gender issues in policy dialogue, as well as in project design and implementation will be brought to the fore in all IFAD operations.

An invitation to experience Thailand’s Wisdom. Witnessing market development with social inclusion

Posted by Ariel Halpern 0 comments

Learning Route: Developing Rural Territories through Business and Knowledge.
The Thai experience with the OTOP and CLC
October 21 - 28, Thailand


An invitation to experience Thailand’s Wisdom 
Witnessing market development with social inclusion

Is there market development with social inclusion? Yes, even though it seems like an elusive goal in many rural development projects. The Kingdom of Thailand is among the least urbanized countries in Asia: almost twice as many Thais live in the countryside as in the cities. This is one main reason for Thailand to become a fertile ground for innovation in rural development, while the country aspires—at the same time—to be the future keystone of mainland South-East Asia.

There are huge and costly proofs of the Thai strategy for rural development, like a network of high-speed railway lines to connect Thailand’s four main regions with the capital city of Bangkok in order to cut transport costs everywhere. But there are also significant examples of valuable knowledge supply from the institutional grassroots level, such as the One Tambon One Product Program (OTOP) and the Pratch Chao Bann Community Learning Centres Program (CLC), considered efficient tools for market development with social inclusion.

Those are valuable models with potential for replication not just for South-East Asia, but also for all the development country interested in acquiring in-depth understanding of the overarching policy rationale, the provincial and local operating settings, and the impacts of Thai strategy for rural development, in particular the best practices and lessons learned by the OTOP and CLC programs.

Within a South-South collaborative framework, the Agricultural Technology and Sustainable Agriculture Policy Division (ATSAP) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) and the Community Development Department (CDD) of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) of Thailand with the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD-UN) and the Procasur Corporation, invite you to experience the Learning Route “Developing Rural Territories through Business and Knowledge: The Thai experience with the OTOP and CLC” (October 21 - 28, 2013).

40 participants including high-level government officials, rural development practitioners and outstanding farmers from Latin America, Africa and Asia take part of this Learning adventure through Bangkok, Saraburi, Suphanburi, Lopburi, Nakorn-ratchasima and Nakorn-prathom.

Outstanding farmers, often self-taught and self-reliant, who have mastered ‘learning by doing’ skills, provide technical assistance for land and rural organization management. Thai policy illustrates the institutional potential of embedding these agents into the public delivery framework of rural development. By identifying, acknowledging, valuing and legitimizing their roles, and by creating new networking opportunities, the policy prompts market sophistication in the rural grassroots scene.

Welcome to Thailand’s Wisdom!

For more information, visit www.asia.procasur.org and follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/procasur.asia