Kudchum is a community where they introduced a "comminity currncy' as an experiment many years ago, isn't it? What's happening to the village?

"Have this Kudchum village received a big loss caused by pests because they have gone to far in adopting organic farmings?" A correction. Sorry for my bad English as always.

I conceive this doubt because I've got stuck on the folling part:

"Local government officials claim that farmers are demanding the free distribution of Furadan and have enlisted village headmen to sign up local rice and cassava farmers to immediately receive Furadan and other chemicals, . in order to address what they are calling a “natural disaster” created by plant disease in both crops.."

Why did the authorskip such an important point in such an easy way? ("natural disater"....hahaha....this is the way authors usually use when they are not confident of his writing but want to give kind of impression that it's kind of dubious) Does heshe have something to hide?

G'day Plaadip! I quote: " Local government officials CLAIM .........and have enlisted village headmen to sign up local rice and cassava farmers ......., in order to address WHAT THEY ARE CALLING a “natural disaster” created by plant disease in both crops.......... The AAN – Esan recognizes that this “demand” on behalf of rice and cassava farmers in Kudchum is just an excuse for local politicians to misallocate funds intended to support local farmers." (capitals are mine, to highlight what I believe the writer has said.) I think you've misread.

Note that he doesn't state that there is, in fact, any "natural disaster." It looks like a scam on the part of local officials (as the writer points out).

It would be interesting to know how much money is involved - probably quite a lot. It reminds me of that thing a few months ago when a committee in the Dept of Agriculture tried to ban a whole lot of very effective herbal pesticides, including ginger and the excellent Neem, as "dangerous substances." Many thought that there was corruption in favour of the chemical companies. They didn't get far, though, because the farmers made a great deal of noise about it, & the media took it up.

I wish The Alternative Agriculture Network – Esan (AAN) & the Kudchum farmers luck, and very sincerely thank the writer. Personally, I try to buy organic produce wherever possible, due to what I've read about the over-use of chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides here. (A very dear friend, vegetarian, died recently of stomach cancer, and I've heard of too many other cases to ignore the link.)

Plaadip, you could be right. But I hope not. I'd like to think it's more likely, in an area which is apparently fairly well-informed & organically-oriented, that local officials did what they thought they could get away with. I wish the author would come back & give us some more info.

I did a search on AAN & their associates. They look really admirable - lots of local farmers & their supporters banded together to do constructive things, not only as activists in the fight against corrupt practises, etc., but also in exchanging info. & creating marketing strategies, networks, etc. This sort of 'civil society' participation is at least as important in the development of a workable democracy as elections. All power to them!

What's this about "community currency"? Sounds interesting.

Thanks for your comments, I was just recently informed that my press release got posted on Prachatai, so I'm sorry for the late reply.

We are currently organizing a public awareness campaign, stemming from the recent situation in Kudchum district.

Here is our report from a meeting with the government on Nov. 3: http://aanesan.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/furadan-crisis-update/

Here is research prepared for this week's "Plant Protection Conference" in Ubon:
http://aanesan.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/carbofuran-in-thailand-a-public-health-risk/

Please look out for updates on our website aanesan.wordpress.com

Thanks,

Bennett Haynes