A giant feast was laid out before me. There were too many dishes to count, but I could vividly remember my favourite picks: Grilled chicken marinated with wild red ants (the urine of the red ants is supposed to give the dish an added tangy flavour), whole roasted Nile Tilapia fish in a salt crust, grilled field crabs and, of course, steamed chemical-free rice.
A farmer carries seedlings across her organic rice field.
Today, the farmers cooked us this impressive spread to celebrate the beginning of the first rice harvest for our company — a non-profit with a mission to help small farmers in sustainable ways. This harvest is a joint venture between the company and one small village in Moo Baan Nong Hin in Maha Sarakham province.
The rice will be branded under the name "Imm", which in Thai means full, satisfied or contented. The ultimate objective of the Imm project for both me and the farmers is not monetary wealth but contentment. I believe that contentment can be derived from farmers being less reliant on unsustainable government hand-outs and the unsustainable farming practice of being too reliant on chemical fertilisers and pesticides, which are harmful to farmer, consumer as well as the environment. As idealistic as my plan may be, the farmers' concerns are real enough — a reduction in income as a result of lower yields from switching to organic.
In response to these concerns, we came up with the following proposed solutions:
First, lower the risk for farmers who participate in the "Imm" programme. We decided to pay up-front 4,000 baht per rai directly to the farmers to cover their initial investment costs so that farmers can avoid the need to borrow money and pay interest. Moreover, we decided to package the rice in unique and attractive hand woven bags, using local materials and handicrafts. This strategy will help increase and diversify the source of income for the farmers' families.
Second, offset lower yields by increasing the quality and retail price of Imm. If by going organic, farmers produce 50% less yield, the logical solution then is for us to offset the decrease in productivity by increasing the quality and retail value of our product accordingly. At the end of the day, we were able to guarantee the purchase of the farmers' top quality organic rice at a high price of 20,000-25,000 baht per tonne of paddy (compared to the market price for normal Hom Mali of around 15,000 baht), depending on the rice variety.
This higher price can be achieved because the market places a higher value on organic products, but we also need to brand and market the rice as a high quality product to be sold directly to consumers. To effectively cut out the middleman, we will, as much as possible, use e-commerce sales channels in order to reach a broad market at low cost.
Third, continually find ways to lower cost and increase efficiency. To my surprise, farmers no longer keep their own seeds but opt instead to buy from retail shops at the beginning of each farming season. We offered to help create a "Seed Bank" for the farmers, effectively buying-to-keep 25 kgs of rice per rai to deposit in the Seed Bank for next planting season. This policy helps to reduce input costs from 4,000 baht per rai closer to 3,000 baht per rai. Best of all, the practice will encourage farmers to keep the best seeds which will gradually help improve the quality of future crops.
Our group of farmers, involving seven households, accepted our proposal back in May, and we were on our way to our first crop, harvested last month.
Bunches of rice seedlings sit in an organic rice field. Demand for chemical-free rice is on the increase as markets place higher value on organic products. Sirinya Wattanasukchai
Given that I had no prior experience in farming and this was the farmers' first and only crop of the year — unlike other areas, Moo Baan Nong Hin only has enough water to grow one rice crop per year — the pressure is definitely on for this project to work.
The short-term goal is to meet the basic financial target.
Our intention is to sell the milled rice at 120 baht per kilogramme. This is not inconsistent with other high quality brands of rice, but is about double the price of unbranded rice in supermarkets. Our supposition, however, is that there will be customers willing to pay the premium for quality — after all, a premium of 60 baht is relatively marginal for a middle-class household.
I estimate that for a farmer with 30 rai, they could expect revenue of 375,000 baht per crop with total expenses at about 120,000 baht, leaving them with 255,000 baht in their pockets from their main rice crop each year. This is equivalent to more than 21,000 baht per month — before revenues from other sources, not least the bags used to package the rice. The farmers are also likely to receive additional cash dividends from our company, if we succeed in selling the rice as planned. If it all works out, our farmers could be earning equivalent to 30,000 baht per month.
We believe this to be possible, so we went out to prove it with this project. We also believe it is scaleable and will enlarge the scheme to include more families next year.
The medium-term goal is to create better infrastructure, especially with regards to irrigation. For even greater success, farmers will need better access to water resources. After all, for this particular group, the bulk of their land will sit idle for half the year, because there is no water supply. Simple maths indicates they can double their annual income if they have access to water all year round.
Indeed, at the macro level, only 20% of land currently used for agriculture in Thailand is irrigated. As such, it is obvious that nothing else can make as much of an impact on farmers' incomes as improved irrigation. Indeed, when we asked these northeastern farmers what would be at the top of their wish list from any government, they did not say income guarantees, rice pledging or handouts of any kind. They all said without hesitation: "water".
The long-term goal is to create a brand new market for quality rice and other agricultural products.
We do not just buy wine or cheese — we buy Chardonnay and Merlot; we buy Brie and Cheddar, and we regularly pay huge price differences for the choices we make. In the meantime, our rice has become just a commodity, when in truth there are distinct differences and varieties of rice that most Thai people do not know about. If we can change this, we can make a real difference to our farmers.
So far, this small project of ours helps to confirm my view that the sustainable way to help small farmers includes:
— Access to land.- Access to skills that allow them to take their products to market.
— Access to financing that allow them to manage the whole farm-to-fork process without middlemen.
— Access to water resources.
The biggest lesson throughout my latest venture is that we are in danger of seeing northeastern farmland abandoned altogether within the next 10 years unless significant changes to the economic model are put into effect. The reality is that our farmers are getting old, and unless the economics become more attractive, there will be no one to replace them. Many changes will come from the policy-level or from outsiders who have a better understanding of the realities of the market. However, many of the changes that need to take place — such as reverting back to organic farming practices — already exist within their communities and is knowledge merely misplaced or forgotten.
Looking back at my lunch plate, I saw how change was already gradually taking place.
The only thing that surprised me more than finding red ant urine on my grilled chicken is realising that the Nile Tilapia fish and field crabs were caught just this morning in the rice paddies right behind where we were sitting. Apparently, when the farmers revert back to chemical-free farming the rice paddies do not only breed rice, but can also breed fish and crab in addition to other food sources.
The farmers have produced high quality chemical-free rice, while at the same time breeding fish and crab for consumption and are leaving no chemical residue to further taint the ground which they must live off.
It's not every day when the consumer, farmer and environment can win in the same game, but when it does happen that is when contentment presents itself.
Korn Chatikavanij is chair of the Democrat Party's policy unit. Imm rice can be purchased online via rice.tarad.com or from the Imm pop-up store at K-village from Dec 12.