The reservoir inundated houses, temples, schools, roads and railways, but today the rehabilitation program is almost complete. New roads, highways and railways have been built; temples and schools have been relocated. New homes demonstrate the vitality and resilience of the population. Continued cooperation between the government - agencies, policies and personnel - and the resettled population of some 7000 families is necessary for long-term benefit.
Dislocation is a difficult experience. Few people wish to leave homes and land to which they are deeply attached; most have strong emotional ties and memories associated with their homes of generations. While young children, especially school children, are quite adaptable to change, the ageing - older men and women - can be quite challenged by the prospect of new situations and having to find new work.
While some villagers moved out of the province, most chose to relocate into farms and communities in the project area. The dislocated population was provided support in the form of basic infrastructure and public utilities.
Relocation has meant that many have changed not only their residence, but have also had to seek alternative employment. Because equal amounts of rice land were not available, substitute vocations such as commercial fishing and more intensive farming were developed. Government policy promotes the formation of farmers' associations, business and farm management associations and community initiatives to increase farm productivity. Farmers are encouraged to develop small-scale agribusiness to add value to their produce.
Consequently, many women and men have become involved in community development, actively working with their neighbours to shape a common future. At the same time, government extension workers, male and female, in agriculture and other areas, are valuable resources to help local residents to identify new or extended occupational opportunities (such as processing, preserving and marketing fish from the reservoir) and proceed in their implementation.
Ultimate success of the program is centrally dependent, however, on what and how the 35 000 to 40 000 people who have relocated choose to live their lives. Here are some mini-reports of a few of them.
The role of women is no longer the same. Peoples' participation meant that women who formerly “stayed home” are no longer satisfied to remain in their former roles. Many have joined together with other women to learn new skills, extend their knowledge of farm-related occupations, home economics and managing their labour and resources to support household or cottage industries.
Narong Khanarit's house is particularly popular these days. The home of the Manao Wan village headman, or kamnan, has become the hub of an expanding home-based business group which is already expanding and “exporting” to other markets. The business is not his, nor does it belong to his male compatriots. Indicative of the new spirit of enterprise which is coursing through the women's community, it is a sweets-manufacturing cooperative conceived by his wife, Mrs Wieng.
As headman Khun Narong plays a central role in this resettled community, but he has nothing to do with the women's cooperative headed by Khun Wieng and the other women who have organized an expanding home-based sweets industry here. In front of the house are tables laden with samples - trays of typical Thai desserts - and repeat customers come to purchase by the tray.
The Community Economic Promotion Center of Ban Manao Wan was set up in 1996 by the women led by Khun Wieng. After considering various options, they decided to make and market Thai desserts. “We received advice and market support from the Community Development Department and the Department of Public Welfare”, she said. “Now we have many customers”. Their Thai sweets are sold in nearby markets - and the women are learning basic accounting, inventory and quality control.
Khun Wieng said the women gathered inspiration, and recipes from elsewhere.
“Bah Bin” is a famous gift from Petchaburi. “We sent out people to learn how to make Thai desserts in Petchaburi, we modified the baking process and the equipment to make our own unique version”.
It is not only sweets that these women have organized. Their business and management skills are now being put to the task of a wide range of economic activities, according to Khun Wieng, being applied to the necessary business of preparing fish for drying and processing.
“Other women are being encouraged and helped to develop cottage industries which can take place at home”, she explained. Nearby is a mushroom nursery shed. Out of it, Aunty Sa, ageing but able at age 77, emerges with a big basket filled with attractive white mushrooms. “I plant Nang Fah mushrooms after the harvest season”, she said. Her nursery yields 10–20 kg a day. “I cook them for food and sell them at 20–25 baht per kg. It's a good living”.
Aunty Sa calls them her angels. In Thai Nang Fah means angel mushroom. Technically known as Pleurotus sapor-caju, the angel mushroom is helping an older woman who is quite willing to work, but who is no longer suited to the heavy labour of rice planting and harvest, to achieve not only a sustainable way of life, but a self-sustaining life.
At the Handlooming Centre in Makok Wan village, a tall and slender woman, handsomely clad in a yellow-brown traditional Thai dress, sits on a stool, beside her a pile of colourful hand-loomed cotton cloth. Sampao Noicharoen, aged 40, is village headwoman and was voted Distinguished Community Leader of Lop Buri for her diligence and enthusiasm in helping other women with career development and income generation.
“Mud-mee handlooming has become a main source of income for our jobless housewives. We began with only seven or eight members. Now we have 25 members, all women, aged 30 to 70,” the headwoman said, laughing. “We use what we produce, and sell some within the village. A way to promote the product is to wear it. I sometimes become a model myself,” she added. Her attractive traditional dress is a product of the Centre, an example of creative economic activity which is helping resettled housewives build a better future for their families.
Khun Sampao became headwoman two years ago. She has witnessed changes in the status of women, and is aware that she herself is an example to other women who are now no longer content to sit by and let men make all the decisions. She and other women participated in setting up their new village, and over the years of physical transition have seen a change in their own attitudes, and a growing awareness among their husbands, other family members and in the wider community, that they are living in different relationship than before. Their own roles have been developing, together with their communities.
“We moved from flooded land in the reservoir area in 1996,” she said. People who were dislocated received a significant compensation to pay off debts and begin a new life in an attractive and comfortable place. “The money permitted us an investment in income-producing activities,” she said.
“The new name of our village has a great meaning for us,” Khun Sampao explained. In 1997, “under Royal Patronage” was added to the name of the village in gratitude for His Majesty the King's gift. The village received an added budget of 800 000 baht (US$20 000) from His Majesty the King's Chaipattana Foundation to develop infrastructure.
Today Makok Wan village has a systematic layout, and is fully equipped with public utilities. “Now we have roads, tap water and an electricity supply,” Khun Sampao said, “unlike our former homes. We villagers have a much better quality of life.” As night fell, all the houses in the village were brightly lit. “We are glad we've come here. The government always lends us a hand. We are never alone.”
“We have enough for everyone,” Phan Thamkindee said. “We have all we want - fish, meat and eggs for the kids. We still don't have money, but we don't starve. We have enough to eat.”
Producing enough to eat, making sufficient income, and not damaging the environment is the traditional Thai approach to agriculture. Farm families lived in respectful relationship with the environment, and while their lives involved subsistence farming, it was a sufficient subsistence.
With many mouths to feed and little money in hand, self-sufficiency and food security are the goals of Phan Thamkindee, an ageing farmer in Tha Kruad village. He is proud of himself, and his neighbours, in having made a big change. “Here in Tha Luang district,” he says, expansively, “we grow all we need to eat. It's not a business. We grow our food and live on it.”
The old farmer did not come alone. He left his old farm in what is now the reservoir in 1997 and was resettled in Tha Kruad with his wife and their three daughters - and their husbands and children. He was a rice farmer, a chao nah, before, but rarely had good harvests. Now, Khun Phan explains, he practices integrated agriculture on his new farm, applying what he learned in agricultural extension courses, as well as thorough the mass media, television and the newspapers.
In addition to rice, Khun Phan's new 16 rai farm combines an orchard, a fishpond and a kitchen garden. His entire family works the land, growing rice, vegetables, fruits and herbs. Behind their home is sugar cane and maize, beans, pumpkins, morning glory, pineapples, limes and sweet potatoes. Near the pond is a small kitchen garden with basil, sweet basil, chili peppers, peppermint and Chinese vegetables. The orchard has papayas, rose apples, guavas and custard apples.
Fish farming is a central feature of integrated farming, helping generate higher, more consistent incomes and better nutrition. In his irrigation ditches and pond, he raises fish such as Nile tilapia and Barb, carp and catfish, soft-shell turtles and bullfrogs. Nearby a large coop contains dozens of native chickens. Poultry farmers such as Khun Phan have discovered catfish farming to generate income while recycling chicken waste.
On a slice of land at the reservoir rim in Nong Bua, green rows of trees begin to emerge. It is a young plantation of thin, spindly trees, which will stretch, in the near future, more than a thousand rai, creating a substantial forest area at the edge of the reservoir.
This is a part of the reforestation program compensating for the detrimental effects of the dam and reservoir. The waters of the reservoir covered a large area of riverine forest, largely mixed-deciduous woodland and old farm plots which yielded relatively low economic return. The newly planted trees will compensate for the lost benefits and add to the balance of the ecosystem. The new habitat is expected to revive bio-diversity and restore complete food chains, providing homes for many species of wildlife.
Reforestation includes public participation. Much of the new forest is public woodland owned, managed and cherished by local residents having a common share of these grounds. Agro-forestry has been created out of denuded woodland and vacant space. Mixed woods - red cedar, eucalyptus, teak and lan - in the new forest means that local people can enjoy both the natural surrounding, and have essential raw materials for both their own living and supplementary income.
Finally, reforestation permits development of conservation values. Having a stake in managing their own natural resources, farmers are learning to appreciate the value of conserving such natural resources, to retain their integrity during their own lifetimes and far beyond, for their children, and for generations to come.
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Protecting and extending forests - replanting over-exploited forest areas and establishing additional forest reserves - means that there are now zones in which hunting, logging and agriculture are prohibited. Community forest management preserves and enhances the ecosystem and biodiversity. Residents may gather forest products for home use or market - but they also work together to protect it.
One forest product is “Lan” (Corypha lecomtei becc.), a palm tree prized for making decorative and useful handicrafts. Ban Tha Rit Handicrafts Centre in Saraburi's Wang Muang district is always crowded with buyers and is famous for its well-made crafts - hats, trinket boxes and key holders - produced in a village-based agro-industry using Lan as its main raw material.
Saraburi is the only source of Lan Thong, according to Banyen Sorndee, handicrafts group head. “Our soil produces top quality Lan with a distinctive golden yellow hue,” she says proudly.
Nearby, in strong sunlight, silhouettes of Lan palms stand tall against the sky. Scattered on the ground are brownish lemon-sized seeds, ready to sprout into new trees. “Now we've learned to plant Lan Thong. In the past, we simply used it,” Khun Banyen said.
A Lan tree usually lasts some 70 years, bears fruit once, then dies. “Our agricultural extension officer gave us the idea to grow it,” she said. “Now we can farm Lan and never run out of raw material.” She plants Lan in vacant places near her house, letting them grow naturally amid other plants. “We let them grow as they will,” she said. “We just apply organic fertilizer and give them enough water.” She is creating “a community forest”. A forest of a thousand rai begins with a single tree.
With help from the Community Development Department, Khun Banyen teaches resettled village women to make Lan products to supplement their family's irregular farming income. At most, one can earn 200–300 baht a day. “Starting from eight members, we now have nearly fifty, ranging from young people to 60 and 70 year-old people,” she added. “You can earn a living at any age.”
Saraburi and Lop Buri provinces have long attracted visitors to
charming landscapes of mountain ridges alternating with low hills and high plains, where
waterfalls, streams and rivers offer recreation and quiet retreats far from the noise, bustle
and pollution of the city. An abundance of temples and historical sites of former days also
draws visitors from other places.
Near the reservoir thousand of rai of sunflower fields provide a seemingly endless panorama - a vista perfect for restful driving. Water sports and recreational activities such as boating and canoeing are attracting visitors as well.
Such a habitat is an encouragement to other species to find and make homes for themselves. Many species of birds in the watershed are finding new nesting and feeding areas and habitats along the reservoir rim. Several bird-watching sites are becoming popular among eco-tourists. Depending on the season, over a hundred species of migratory birds can be observed, including the Little Egret, the Great Egret, the Baer's Pochard, the Red-Throated Flycatcher, the Black Drongo, the Garganey and the Black-naped Monarch Flycatcher.
Eco-tourism attracts not only foreign visitors, but also Thais eager to rediscover their natural heritage. Pleasantly it protects nature even while entertaining visitors. Careful and respectful of nature, both provinces and the Tourism Authority of Thailand are developing sound long-term programmes to attract tourists - schoolchildren and retired older persons.
Urban families are obvious consumers of this developing eco-tourism. But even more than that, tourism provides jobs and learning experiences for the sons and daughters of the project, young people born in now relocated villages, attending new schools and helping their families earn money. Attracting large numbers of visitors without degrading the nature and the society they have come to see is a challenge.
The dam is itself an interesting tourist destination, suitable for a day trip for those who simply wish a refreshing visit to a place of beauty in the countryside. They can also see an important source of domestic water for Bangkok. A special State Railways of Thailand train, No. 439, leaves Kaeng Khoi station for Bua Yai daily just before noon. It arrives at Lam Narai Station at the dam at one-thirty in the afternoon. (The return train, No. 434, leaves Bua Yai at three in the afternoon and arrives at Khaeng Khoi two hours later.)
The train takes visitors across the new reservoir for unparalleled vistas of sun and water surrounded by distant hills. The station graces the west end of the dam, and is a short walk to the museum. Products from the reservoir - varieties of fruits and vegetables, fresh and dried fish, Thai sweets and handicrafts in abundance - witness the new prosperity that has followed development to meet the needs of the population in one of Thailand's most historic regions, the Pa Sak River Basin.
