Slash-and-burn farming is real. So is the rotational farming system practised by the Karens and other ethnic minority groups.
The two systems are completely different, yet people tend to mix them up. Slash-and-burn is destructive, while rotational farming is the opposite. A unique practice, albeit involving burning in the process, the system proceeds a cycle that allows the forest ecology to recover.
However, the bad reputation of the slash-and-burn system has caused public misconceptions about Karen-style farming methods. There are prime examples of rotational farming's success, and they are spoken well of by local leaders, academics and forest activists.
Krisada Boonchai, a leading activist, said rotational farming is a production system of Karens and other villagers in highland areas. The system is well adapted to our tropical climate's ecology, with short periods of planting on limited space. Once the cultivation is done, villagers move to another plot, meaning nature has time to recuperate.
During a recent visit to a Karen village in Tambon Huai Poo-ling in Mae Hong Son's Muang district, I had a chance to witness how rotational farming works.
Akkaradet Wanchai-tanawong, chairman of the Mae Hong Son Provincial Administration Organisation, conceded that he used to have the wrong idea about the Karen-style farming method.
"When I was a student, I mistook the Karen farming [method] for the destructive slash-and-burn system," he told me during the trip, which was arranged by the Senate panel on Human Rights. He said he became enlightened about the system after working with the ethnic villagers.
The rotational system is part of Karen traditional farming, and it represents a part of their livelihood that has lasted for centuries. Living on the highlands, they depend solely on rainwater, without irrigation systems like lowland farmers.
We have to be aware that deforestation in the northern region was caused by the timber business, and also the spread of opium plantations by some ethnic groups. Now monoculture, the planting of corn and tapioca for the animal feed industry, is the main culprit in denuding mountains, which results in cycles of floods and drought.
Mr Akkaradet takes pride in Karen farming at Tambon Huai Poo-ling. There are altogether 563 families, with 3,162 people, all Karens. They inherited the farming system from their ancestors. One village, Ban Nong Khao Klang, is home to 300 Karens sharing 50-rai farmland in a year, growing rice and other crops. After cultivation, they move to another 50-rai plot, on and on. After the 10th year, they go back to the first plot, where the nutrition of the soil will have become rich.
In an interview with Transborder News, Patijoko, chair of Huai Poo-ling Tambon Administration Organisation, said the village has a committee deciding on the amount of land each family needs for planting each year. Under such management, no one takes more forest land as they respect their ancestors' belief where the natural forest is treasured. Another village in Tambon Mae Ki, Mae Hong Son's Khun Yuam district boasts of similar success.
Rotational cycles differ in each area. One village in Chiang Rai has a seven-year cycle.
Somsak Sukwong, a renowned community forest expert, said burning is a necessary process in rotational farming as it helps enrich the land. This is because volcanic land, about 50 million years old, has little nutrition, so it needs the help of accumulated tree leaves to give the soil nutrients, and given that most are living on slopes, they fell some young plants, keeping the stumps, a process which protects the soil from eroding. They rid some branches of big trees, before burning and abandoning the area, allowing nutrition to accumulate. With this method, they don't need chemical fertilisers.
Karen-style burning is different from the conventional process for monocrops, which involves vast plantations regardless of other conditions. However, Karen villagers have an ancient wisdom which enables them to predict when rain will fall -- the right time for burning farm leftovers. With the help of rain and soil management, fires can be contained and not extend to surrounding areas.
Research by Anant Kanchanapan, a respected sociologist at Chiang Mai University, shows that a rotational farm is rich in diversity. It is found that plant varieties in such a farm can amount to as many as 207, while villagers can collect and keep the seeds.
This is a self-sufficient production system that allows Karen villagers to stand on their own feet, without depending on chemicals or market mechanisms. They can also be free of middlemen.
It should be noted that the rotational system won recognition from the state. The Abhisit Vejjajiva government in a historic move issued a cabinet resolution on Aug 3, 2010, to restore the Karens' traditional ways of life, protecting their farming system. It instructed state agencies to stop arresting hill-tribe villagers who had lived in forest areas before they were declared forest reserves.
State agencies were told to return the villagers to their ancestral land and several areas have been designated Special Cultural Zones for Karen ethnic villagers. In formally recognising rotational farming, the Culture Ministry named it a cultural wisdom and in 2013, the Food and Agriculture Organization praised rotational farming as an integrated agriculture method that can secure the sustainability of ecological systems. The agency also pointed out that rotational farming had nothing to do with deforestation, as widely misunderstood.
Despite such efforts, some state agencies shun the policies and continue their crackdowns with violence. In certain cases like Bang Kloi in Phetchaburi, the poor villagers faced eviction and forced relocation, with all their villages and barns burned down after their ancestral land was declared part of the Kaeng Krachan National Park.
Unlike Karens in Mae Hong Son who have a chance to keep their traditional way of life, living side by side with nature, Bang Kloi villagers are trapped in a nightmare. The state should review its role with regard to rotational farming and clear up the misconceptions, which are based on stigmatisation and discrimination, and treat the Karens with respect.
Prasarn Marukpitak is former senator.