Thailand Tribes Find Self-Reliance in Their Own Backyards

For decades, the Akha tribes of northern Thailand relied on one method of survival: Constant migration throughout the region necessitated by the slash-and-burn technique of farming. Then everything changed.

New government policies included tribe members' forced settlement. It didn't take long for them to find that the only farming method they'd known quickly depleted what little land they had. The notorious dry season only made things worse, and soon the youth of the villages were leaving home to find work that too often involved prostitution and lead to drug addiction. Meanwhile, those left behind still had to eat.

Mrs. Nakha remembers that their food and income "…came only from what we found in the forest." And although it was illegal, "We were forced to collect charcoal [for cooking] in the middle of the night. We didn't even use a flashlight to guide us, only lighted matches, so that we wouldn't get caught."

During the daylight hours, "We were idle and isolated ourselves from each other." Forming a village community seemed impossible.

In 1999, Heifer International's Thailand program began working with these families, teaching them how to plant kitchen gardens and care for the water buffalo, cattle, pigs and poultry Heifer provided. The villagers learned how to use biogas for their fuel. Ten neighboring villages even banded together to plant almost 50,000 trees in a one-hundred hectare area where water springs are located. Now, this new forest absorbs rain water and supplies it to the villages during the dry season. 

"Today we can establish ourselves as a community," said Amui Wazu. "And Heifer has introduced us to the kitchen gardens, which have been our savior. We have vegetables year-round!" "Since Heifer International [came], we are always busy with our animals and our kitchen gardens," Mrs. Nakha added. "We do not need to go elsewhere for our food, because everything for our survival is here."

Learn more about Heifer's initiatives in agroecology