For a number of years, many in the Thai organic farming movement has seen a need to develop an alternative to commercial seed. For one there is the need to reverse the trend of losses of traditional varieties which are often the best adapted for local conditions. While Thai laws still prohibit commercialization of GMO varieties, there has been GMO contamination for some crops like soybeans, cotton, and papayas, and there are risks for other crops now and into the future. Commercial seed is normally chemically treated, there are only a few companies and limited varieties. Quality while legally regulated does not always meet stated standards. Seed / seedling prices have been increasing overtime and are more and more of a cost burden for farmers. All of these factors provide good reason to develop alternatives.
About 7 years ago Earth Net Foundation organized a first meeting on organic seed with the support of Joko Learning Center, Nan, and participation from a number of leading organizations in this area including Pun Pun Organic Farm, Khao Kwan Foundation, the Alternative Agriculture Network and some of the leading seed saving farmers in the country. This meeting set a basis of where we wanted to go, which was to develop an organic seed network that would both build the capacity of farmers to grow, select, improve, and process seed, and which would also link farmers with farmers and farmers/ farming organizations with seed production capacity with buyers seeking organic seed. With core goals to increase in situ agrobiodiversity and restore seed resources to communities, but also working to develop an alternative organic seed market, this proposed network looked similar to models observed on other countries such as the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in the USA.
As is often the case, good beginnings do not always manifest as swift action due to limits in time, staff and other resources. While a second meeting was held a year later in Bangkok and farmer seeds and genetic material were being exchanged and we had a better idea of what key stakeholders were doing, the network and distribution did not materialize as hoped. For the next years, it is clear many farmer organizations and NGOs working with farmers were moving this forward. Many of us would meet at the annual Herbal Exposition, a large event that has involves many farmer organizations. Open pollenated organically grown (not certified) traditional variety seeds became more and more of available and diverse at this fair. They were also popular with many visitors. The seeds however were sold with rather little information and no quality measures. Earth Net Foundation felt this was not enough, we needed to be able to provide good information and quality standards, in particular to provide germination rate info, thus Earth Net proceeded on this course. A number of stakeholders in the Alternative Agriculture Network also felt they needed to raise the bar and address other issues. They set up a new organization called the Freedom of Variety Network (name translated from Thai). This network set similar goals. At the 2012 Herbal Festival seed being sold met the new standards with minimum germination rates and in general better varietal information. The amount of seed and varietal diversity was also the highest yet at any such event.
Earth Net Foundation, with particular efforts under longtime staff, Mattana Aphaimool, while succeeding in many regards, saw that we still had much to learn. We were moving in the direction of being a small seed company but were still mastering the arts of seed production, processing and packing. Fortunately we have a positive and developing relationship with Bhutan, a country that has a strong non-GMO policy and strongly supports organic agriculture. Also with a pristine environment and minimal use of agro-chemicals and fertilizers, Bhutan seems like the ideal organic country. Earth Net Foundation had developed contacts with the two local Bhutanese seed companies, Druk Seed and Bhutan Alpine Seed. As part of the Fredskorpset South to South programme Earth Net Foundation could request support from its Bhutanese partner, BAOWE, to send a seed technician. Thus in May 2012, Earth Net was fortunate to receive Dilip Kumar Subba from Bhutan Alpine Seeds. He was placed primarily to stay at the seed production center with Mattana Aphaimool. Over the year his contribution was of great benefit. We learned and developed different simple and effective germination test techniques. We tested a number of cool weather vegetable seed varieties from Bhutan. We developed more efficient methods for growing and cleaning seed. Dilip was not at a loss either as he was able to learn from the strong knowledge in modern organic practices with Mattana and the Mae Tha community. He also got exposure to Internal Control System and Participatory Guarantee Systems as options for organic certification. While Bhutan is some distance from Thailand, for the future of organic seed here, it is seen to have a crucial role as a number of popular vegetable varieties, such a cabbage, broccoli, and carrots cannot be grown well for seed in Thailand. Thus Bhutan can help fill this need.
Seeing the evolution and progress we were making, Earth Net Foundation and I, myself, felt the need to get us back together again. Thus we helped to organize an organic seed gathering together with Pun Pun Organic Farm. The event was held from
27 Feb to 2 March this year (2013). Due to funding limitations and with a desire for more interaction, the gathering did not try and bring together everyone involved, but to bring together a few from some of the leading groups, all of whom we identified as seed practitioners. This means that all who came were not new to this area, but have been producing seed for at least a few years and have tackled different challenges acquiring a body of knowledge. Along with the co-organizers, we had involvement by Joko Learning Center, the Freedom of Variety Network, and Echo Asia.
The exchange involved discussion and exchange of practical knowledge first at Pun Pun, and then moving to the Echo Asia Seed Center in Fang, and ending at last at Earth Net’s Organic Agriculture Center Chiang Mai in Mae Tha. At each step we saw how the different organizations are effectively producing, cleaning, storing, and distributing seed. We also saw some of the agrobiodiversity that is being well-managed by our farmer networks. It was most interesting to see that while each of the 3 places has very different conditions, all are managing to do this work well. A highlight for the event was Dilip’s participation, his last big event before needed to return back to Bhutan. Dilip showed how to effectively harvest and clean Amaranth seed, which can be a challenge. He had mastered the art form of winnowing with a tray, quickly removing dust and chaff. Others also shared their little tricks. Suwannasart Konbua from Earth Net’s Organic Agriculture Center Yasothorn, showed how to massage an eggplant. This technique allow the seed to be released cleanly from the fruit. Pun Pun had some interesting varieties, like sweet purple ladyfingers, and a chocolate colored wingbean. Echo Asia had developed a simple / practical drying cabinet that can be used when conditions are too humid for normal seed drying. While many of the cool weather crops failed to produce seed some did not fail completely. We saw the one maturing carrot flower that had survived to this point and went on to produce some seed.
The concluding objectives of the gathering were similar to objectives set 7 years ago, however now we clearly were much father down the road to reaching them. We have clear centers of practical expertise and closer relations. We all have reached the point of having seed available to exchange or sell. Other actors also are entering, such as Mae Jo University, which is held a first training on organic seed production this past May. With success comes new challenges, such as proposed legislation changes that threaten farmers’ rights to save and exchange seed and could eliminate a clause that protects community rights to their traditional genetic resources. The movement will need to take on these challenges as they come. For now it is nice to look back on how far we have come and to see how there is now a real alternative emerging with organic seed in Thailand.
Michael B. Commons, Earth Net Foundation, Thailand
