Nan Project, Thailand

Final Report

Initial Work Plan
Accomplished activities
Results
Problems & Opportunities
Conclusion &Recommendations

Title page

This report is comprised of the accomplished activities, results of the implementation and problems encountered by the Nan, Thailand project for the period of June to December 2000.

Initial workplan

For the second phase, the project focus on the following crops: sticky rice (lowland, upland and highland), chili and luffa because they are the most important major food crops for the Northern Thai people. These crops could perform well in their particular fields and diverse ecosystem. The project is working on the theme of Participatory Varietal Selection/Participatory Plant Breeding (PVS/PPB) and Seed Supply System (SSS). Moreover, the gender roles in Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) conservation and development are considered in this project. The initial workplan of the project is illustrated in the Table.

The initial workplan of CBDC Nan project in June to December 2000

  Research Area                        Activities                                           Months
   Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec
1. PVS/PPB Visiting farmer’s fields in four villages (Thong kong, Hat ket, Nong mai, Na hin)              
Distribution of rice varieties              
Preparation of plots for planting              
Evaluation of plants in the fields              
Follow up visits until rice harvest              
Collection of data              
Harvesting of rice              

Accomplished Activities

During the Phase 1, the Nan project worked in 9 communities. These communities are located in Nan province in 3 ecosystems (lowland, upland and highland). The same communities will be the target project areas for the second phase. The details of the areas are shown in the Table.

The information of the nine project areas of the CBDC Nan

COMMUNITIES DISTRICT ECOSYSTEM CROP
1. Had Ket Phu Pieng Sub District Lowland Rice, Luffa
2. Joko Phu Pieng Sub District Lowland Rice, Chili, Luffa, Squash, Cucumber, Tomato, Corn, Eggplant, String beans
3. Ban Tam Muang Lowland Rice, Luffa
4. Na Hin Muang Lowland Rice, Chili
5. Du Pong Santisuk Upland Rice, Chili
6. Thong Kong Tha wang pha Lowland Rice, Chili
7. Thai Ngam Na Noey Upland Rice
8. Dong Pa Poon Bor Kue Highland Rice
9. Meug Teud Phu Pieng Sub District Lowland Rice, Chili, Luffa
  1. PVS/PPB
    2. A.1 Farmer’s field at the community

    The CBDC staff namely: Mr. Jirawat Kakummoon, Mr. Channarong Yod-ad and Ms. Treesirin Tasoon visited the farmers to distribute rice varieties, prepare the plots and sow rice varieties in the villages of Thong kong and Thai ngam. The Table below shows the number of rice varieties given to the communities.

    The number of farmers and rice varieties distributed to the communities.

    AREAS NUMBER OF FARMERS RICE VARIETIES
    Thong kong 10 Sa-tern, Kaw tontam, Dor-marae, Dor-doonma, Teoy, RD 6 (CKV)
    Thai ngam 8 Pa lor, Prae muang, Mog, Teoy kow, Dang mad yai, Kowy Hia (CKV)


    Besides the visits, there was discussion and exchanges with farmers on PGR concerns such as the rice varieties planted in the community, introduce and level-off on the project’s activities and draft the workplan with the farmers at Thong kong village in Tha wang pha district in July. In August, the staff evaluated the project’s activities and discussed the workplan in consideration of the 2 new staff of the project. In the month of September, the Nan staff visited each farmer in the field for evaluation of rice varieties planted by them. In October, all project staff followed up the PVS and PPB plots at Thai ngam and Thong kong. They also observed the rice varieties and evaluated rice varieties grown in the fields with the farmers at Thong kong. At the village of Had ket, Thong kong and Na hin, the staff and farmers had a workshop in the techniques in selecting pure lines and an experiment was set up in the farmers field. Nets were used to cover the rice varieties to avoid contamination of other varieties. In November, the staff collected data from all the PVS/PPB research sites. The lowland rice varieties were harvested in November. The staff also joined the farmers during the harvesting.

    A.2 Center farm at Joko Village

     Joko is one of the CBDC Nan area which is located in Tambon Muang-jang, Phu pieng Sub District, Nan province, Thailand. At Joko, the CBDC Nan project has a small land area (1,200 sq. meter) which serves as a study field for researches and seed production area of the project. The objectives of the study field are: 1) to conserve and maintain local plants by selecting and breeding, 2) to produce and distribute seeds for farmers, and 3) to store seeds as seed bank. In addition, seeds for this study field are from 1) farmers and communities, 2) Rajamangkala Institute, 3) collected seeds of the project, and 4) seed companies. The four main crop varieties stored in the center are luffa, squash, chili and cucumber.

    In June, the staff prepared the study field at Joko for breeding and improving plant varieties. The luffa, squash and cucumber seeds were used for a study conducted by 3 project staff. These materials were used for crossing as parentals and selection was done on progenies. In September, the Nan staff planted tomatoes for production. Another study was set-up on composting to study soil fertility improvement by using local materials like cow dung, dried leaves, drier weeds and other materials found around the farm. The compost was used as organic fertilizer in the vegetables grown in the field. At the end of November, the staff planted luffa and cucumber for breeding studies and hands-on experimentation of the staff.

  2. Networking
    3. B.1 Monitoring visits

    The Southeast Asia Regional Coordinating Unit (RCU) made several visits to the project in the months of June to December. Ms. Arma Bertuso visited the project in June while Mr. Paul Borja (Regional Coordinator) and Ms. Hidelisa de Ramos (Technical Officer) visited in July. The visits were to monitor the progress of the project especially the activities implemented and financial situation. Aside these, the July visit also included a sharing and discussion with the staff on the topic of Popular Education (pop ed). In October, the program coordinator (Ms. Wilhelmina Pelegrina) of the Biodiversity Utilization and Conservation Asia Program (BUCAP) of SEARICE made a visit to the Nan project on behalf of the RCU. After the meeting with the staff, she also visited the project site at Santisuk district.

    B.2 Campaigns

    The CBDC project staff also participated in the two-day anti-genetically modified organisms (GMO) campaign and exhibition at Chiang Mai University assisted by Biothai organization on October.

    B.3 Community Radio

    CBDC Nan is also cooperating with the Community Radio Group of the Hak Muang Nan Foundation (HMN Foundation). The objectives of the Community Radio is to share information on health, agriculture, social and environmental issues to Nan people. The community radio is held once a week for 3 hours.

Result so far

  1. Project Management
    2.  A.1 Staffing

    There were several staff turn-overs in this period. The senior plant breeder of the project, Ms. Rachanee Chakumwong, resigned from the project in July. In August, the new replacement of Ms. Chakumwong started to work with the project. She is Ms. Pimonpan Sakidrum, a graduate of Chiang Mai University. At the same time, the project was also joined by a volunteer to help in the field work. Ms. Maliwan Phadphun graduated from Rajamangkala Institute of Technology (RIT), Lumpang Campus in October 2000. Mr. Thongchai Saison resigned from the project. The project continuously work although there were some changes in the staff. In January 2001, Mr. Changnarong Yod-ad, plant breeder, resigned from the project. After two months, Ms. Maliwan Phadphun also resigned from the project to help in the field of her family. At present, there are 5 staff working on the CBDC Nan project. There are Samruay Phadphun (Project Coordinator), Mr. Jirawat Kakummoon (Agronomist), Ms. Treesirin Tasoon (Plant Breeder), Ms. Pimonpan Sakidrum (Plant Breeder) and Ms. Boutong Jinala (Secretary and Finance staff).

    A.2 Project situation

    Because of budget limitations, the CBDC Nan staff had to prioritize the activities for implementation.

  2. PVS/PPB
    3. B.1 Farmer’s field

    At Thong kong village, the farmers received 3 to 6 varieties of rice depending on their preferences. An active farmer, Mr. Kaed Kumsan planted 6 rice varieties ( 5 varieties from the project and 1 from him) in his field as experiment. These rice varieties were Sa-tern, Kaw tontam, Dor-marae, Dor-boonma, Teoy and CKV. Other farmers received 3 rice varieties each and were planted in their fields for evaluation. At Thai ngam village, Mr. Prasit Tipprajak, an active farmer planted 5 rice varieties (Pa lor, Prae muang, Mog, Teoy kow and Dang mad yai). The staff distributed 3 varieties for other farmers. For back-up purposes, 4 from the 6 rice varieties from Thong kong village were stored at Joko. The other 2 rice varieties were not collected because of the long maturity, however, the farmers stored the varieties for the next cropping season. All the varieties from Thai ngam village were collected for storage at Joko.

    Four trials on pureline technique was set-up in farmers’field. These four farmers were located in the village of Hat ket, Thong kong and Na hin.

    The farmers select rice varieties based in the following characteristics: aroma, strong culm for lodging resistance, high yield and high milling recovery.

    In July after the PGR discussions with farmers at Tha wang pha and Pua districts, the staff distributed chili and cucumber varieties. Also, the staff collected corn and sesame seeds from Siralang community.

    B.2 Center farm at Joko

    At the Joko field., there were luffa, chili, cucumber, pumpkin and some vegetables planted and maintained by the staff.

    B.2.1 Luffa

     There were two crosses and ten varieties of local varieties planted in Joko. The crosses came from segregating lines of F3 from Prof. Mongkol Bodhawong (CBDC Nan consultant) from the Rajamangkala Institute of Technology). The staff made selfing from the segregating lines. The resulting F4 were not yet stable. On the local varieties, the staff got seeds from communities. This was breed to improve quality and seed increase.

    B.2.2 Chili

     The varieties of chili planted in Joko farm were mostly local varieties from communities. These varieties were collected by the project staff. However in Joko, the staff planted only one variety for back-up storage.

    B.2.3 Cucumber

     There were 2 hybrid varieties from Jaitai company that were planted in the farm for trial. These varieties were used for crossing with local varieties.

    B.2.4 Squash

     The staff got local seeds from exchanges with farmers in the communities. There were 5 varieties. The reasons for planting are for increasing the amount of seeds, used as parents in breeding and storage in the seed bank.

    B.2.5 Vegetables

     Most varieties of other vegetables planted in Joko were local varieties. The purpose of planting is for consumption, sales and storage for the next cropping season. All the seeds grown by the staff, aside from breeding, will be distributed to farmers and communities.

  3. Networking
    4.  C.1. Monitoring

     The staff learned more new knowledge that could be used by the project in its activities and also sharing of ideas with the RCU and SEARICE staff during the monitoring. The project was also updated on the status of CBDC.

    C.2 Campaign

     During the GMO campaign, the CBDC staff had a chance to promote the activities of the Nan project to other networks. Also, the staff had distribute, share and exchange seeds with farmers from other communities and development workers from NGOs. Aside from this, there was an opportunity to broaden the knowledge on GMO and establish relationship between other network and organizations and the CBDC project.

    C.3 Community Radio

     The community radio had provided a chance for the staff to join with the other groups of HMN Foundation in disseminating information to Nan people. This made the staff learn the issues of the Nan people that could lead to good relationship between the project and the community in the field of agriculture.

Problems and emerging opportunities For Implementation and Coordination

The major problem that hindered the implementation of the project is the delay in funds. The project, however, decided to continue with the implementation of the project’s activities so as not to stop the interaction and relationship with the farmers and communities established in the Phase 1.

No major problem was encountered in the field. However, strong winds and rains had damaged the field trial on pureline technique in rice in Had ket village. However, the two field trial in Thong kong village was not affected. There were also minimal problems with insects and weed infestation in the field and at the Joko farm. The cucumber trials in the Joko were infested by insects and pests.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Due to the budget limitation, the CBDC Nan staff was not able to implement all the planned activities on the Phase 2 proposal. But, the staff had to prioritize activities to maintain the communities. Although there were a few activities, these are still according to the CBDC objectives. The Nan project had distributed to and exchanged seeds with farmers, communities and NGO networks. These enable the project to help in increasing plant genetic resources of several crops in the province. The project also help stimulate farmers and communities to realize the importance of biodiversity, sustainable agriculture and sustainable economy.

In addition, the staff learnings are an important point because they had share these with the farmers and communities. There is a need for the staff to further increase their skills especially in agricultural techniques. There is also a need to prepare more baseline data in each community such as farmers schedule, community problems and others related information that can help the project implementation in this phase.

Summary

CBDC Nan project will conduct the Phase 2 from June 2000 to May 2004. The major activities of the CBDC Nan project will be on PVS/PPB, SSS and Gender T-lines. The PVS/PPB and SSS is a continuation of the activities in the Phase 1. Moreover, the target group of farmers is changed from a curator (individual farmers) to farmer groups which is based on the Farmer Field School Approach. The project also establishes a center farm in the village of Joko which served as seed production, distribution and exchange to farmers and communities. The staff also conducted field study in the center farm to enhance their skills and knowledge on production, breeding and selection.

There are also other opportunities that will help the staff develop their skills and knowledge. The staff had joined with the community radio group of the HMN Foundation. This activity linked the CBDC staff with the communities in the province. Aside from this, the project has also joined with the sustainable agriculture group of HMN Foundation to learn more skills on organic farming and assist the project staff to learn to stimulate farmers on sustainable agriculture principles.

Despite the problems encountered by the CBDC Nan group on funds, the project still decided to continue the implementation of its work with farming communities. The project decided to move its office from the town to the village in Joko to cut expenses and save costs in office administration.