In Thailand, Agriculture Changed My Life

Thailand - Selaphoum district, Roy Et province

Paitoon Oppacha was a trucker with a drinking problem.

His wife Boonmee, would stay up late, anxious that this would all end badly. But there was no ending the long hauls because they had debts that had to be paid and two daughters they were doing everything to send to school.

Paitoon was gone a week at a time, home only one day and then on the road again. Boonmee was left to care for the farm—mostly commercial crops of cassava (yucca root) and sugar cane.

Everything was work, with few opportunities to be a part of village life—no time. But despite this, one day a neighbor came by and invited them to join a Self-Help Group organized by Heifer International.

The couple worried about joining the project, not sure they would have the time to make the commitment to the group’s activities and meetings. But other villagers who were a part of the group came by and encouraged the couple to take part in the group. Then the group’s community facilitator came by and convinced them to give the group a try—if they didn’t like it they could always resign later.

Paitoon and Boonme decided to give the group a try. But after a while Paitoon decided the Heifer Self-Help Group was a waste of time for making money and tried to convince Boonme to quit attending the trainings the group put on. But Boonme wanted to give the group a fair chance so she kept attending the training sessions and other group activities. She had a chance to join an exposure trip on sustainable organic farming where she visited other villages that were already successfully growing vegetables without expensive chemical fertilizers.

She was inspired by the trip to try growing organic vegetables herself. But the learning curve was steep and her first attempts weren’t profitable. The members of her self-help group helped her though, and encouraged her to keep trying. Eventually she was able to make a profit from her farm.

At that time, Paitoon still thought that agriculture would not generate enough income for their family to survive, but when his wife started to make profit, he rethought the situation. Then he began to study organic farming and learned the skills necessary to farm with his wife. He helped his wife work on the farm and the family received more income from selling vegetables. They sold luffa, onion and coriander and earned about 500 – 2,000 Baht per day ($15.50-$62.00 USD).

Now he is putting his efforts into helping his wife on the farm and now has no time to drink alcohol. He feels relaxed and happy while working on the farm so he spends his whole day there. He is no longer driving trucks now that he doesn’t have to. He spends most of his time with his family and farm. Now they have secure income and even some savings. More importantly, their family has become closer. “I feel much happier and less worried since my husband doesn’t have to leave home to drive a truck and we are more self-reliant,” said Boonmee.

Apart from his effort working in the family’s farm Paitoon also realized the importance of the Self-Help Group because other members always gave their support both physically and mentally when his family was struggling. Now he joins group activities regularly and offers his assistance to the other members. He also shares vegetables from his farm with people in need and shares his organic farming knowledge to interested people.

During the project’s first Passing on the Gift ceremony in April 2009, his family passed on tree saplings. However, he and his wife are still passing on the gifts of knowledge and experiences to other people. When he was asked about his dream for the future, he simply replied that “We have all we need and we are happy about it.”

Support Heifer's work to change the lives of Thai farmers like Paitoon and Boonme. Support Heifer's Thailand to Empower Maginalized Communities project.