Thailand
Farming - a hard, dirty
and ill paid work...
Below is a field-trip report by CWA team member Raj-jai Achayutpokin. Her visit and interviews with the community members was facilitated by the Surin Farmers' Support NGO.
Chammalee is one of many working children and youth from Trasang Village, Muang District, Surin Province who returned to her village because of the economic crisis in the region.
Chammalee's family of five including her grandmother, mother and 3 silblings cannot rely on farming for survival. After harvesting, Chammalee's mother works on a construction site in the city of Surin Province to supplement their income. Seeing the difficulties faced by her family, Chammalee joined a trophy manufacturing shop in Bangkok when she finished grade 6. One of her younger brother works in an ice factory in the city. The youngest brother is studying in Grade 5.
In Bangkok, Chammalee received 3,200 baht every month and accommodation. Chammalee sent home 700 - 1000 baht every month. In Bangkok she managed to make ends meet but had no savings at all. After four years, Chammalee was without work because the factory was receiving fewer orders. She decided to move back home when she could not find another job.
In Tasang Village there are around 20 young people like Chammalee who have returned. They also find that adjusting to a rural life is not a smooth going transition. According to Chammalee and her friends, one of the most important reasons why children prefer working in a factory to toiling in the fields is the stable monthly income that they receive in the factories. Working in factories the youngsters feel they make many friends and that city life experience is a must.
Working in the fields is hard because there are no facilties and the results are dependent on nature. Physically they also feel that they are not as strong as their predecessors to be able to endure hard work in the field. However, the impact of the economic crisis nationwide, has compelled them to find a solution to the shortage of jobs in the cities. They however expressed their interest in staying in their villages if only they had alternative ways of earning a living.
Villagers turn to scavenging for survival
The community members of Trasang Village have filed petitions to the municipality to take action against the garbage dumping that has been going on for 17 years. However, for Nang and her grandmother the garbage 'mountain' is a source for supplementing their meager income from poor harvests. As scavengers, Nang, her sibling and their grandmother they earn about 200 baht per week. Nang has just completed Grade 6. She wants to continue her study if the family can afford it. She plans to apply for a seat in the local non-formal education programme if her family's situation improves, but she hardly attends school.
Nang sometimes has dizzy spells and feels sick . In the beginning she could not stand the odour on the garbage mountain, she would vomit. Now she is used to the smell and rotten things. However, in the evenings, when they return by the mini-bus she has noticed that other passengers do not want to sit next to them because they smell and the people know that they are scavengers.
Low regard for agricultural work
In Banmuang Village one sees old faces and very young faces, a common scene in most villages in the remote areas of northeastern Thailand. Most of the young people have left to work in the sugar-cane plantations in other provinces. After the planting season for the sugar cane is over their return to their village will coincide with the rice planting season. Then they will return to the plantations for harvesting the sugar canes.
These people are seasonal migrant workers. Some of the people who have children of school going age migrate with the entire family if they have no one to take care of the children at home. The children then also help them in the plantation work, cooking or looking after their younger siblings. According to the villager a family with 4 members can earn about 20,000 baht per season (about 3 months).
When they are done with their work on the farm the women weave silk or cotton cloth for personal use and for sale. Another new income generating job for which the village head is the subcontractor is collecting the copper wire from the electric coils. They are paid by piece rate.
Most of the villagers do not want their children to become farmers because farming has been adversely affected by the uncertainty of climate. They want their children to study and have a secure job either in a government or private office. Most of them have a low regard for agricultural work. They think it is hard and dirty work and not well paid.
Surin Farmers' Support Profile
Surin Farmers' Support, is an NGO which promotes and supports people's organisations in using chemical free methods of farming.
Objectives
Activities
Contact Address
475 Lak Muang Road, Tambon Nai Muang,
Muang, Surin 32000, Thailand
Phone: (66 44) 514 206 Fax: (66 44) 520 637
Looking for Viable Alternatives
Jaa is 16 years old and has been with the Community School Project of the Foundation for Rural Youth (FRY) in Roi-et Province for two years now. At the center, Jaa has 10 other friends from surrounding villages in Roi-et Province.
The Project organises non-formal education programme to prepare the young people for their Grade 9 and 12 examinations. Vocational training is also provided including such courses as: computer, raising pigs and growing vegetables. Eleven of them stay together at the center, sharing their responsibilities in cooking, cleaning house, gardening, etc...
The group has by consensus established a set of rules which they follow with guidance from the project staff. They have also established a co-operative shop and saving fund by selling pigs from their pig raising activity. According to the project staff most of the children have developed significantly in many aspects : personal hygiene, self-discipline and sense of responsibility.
Jaa has been helping with the work in the office after her study hours. She has received 800 baht a month for her part-time job. Jaa gives all her income to her mother. Jaa's parents are farmers and seasonal sugar-cane plantation workers. These days her father falls sick often which means more expenses. Jaa's mother wants her to go to Bangkok and work with their relatives in a noodle shop to earn extra money. Jaa, herself would like to continue her study at the center. The project staff visited Jaa's family and are trying to find some viable solution so that Jaa can continue to stay at the center and complete her studies.