Today, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presented FAO awards to four Asian farmers from Afghanistan, China, Viet Nam and Thailand.

Somjit Praisimuang from Thailand was honoured as model farmer for organic horticulture.

Somjit Praisimuang is a woman who was ahead of her time. Growing rice and a few vegetables on her five-hectare farm in the central Thai province of Nakhon Pathom, Somjit had always resisted using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. “Pesticides are poison. I believed it wasn’t healthy for me or my family to eat those vegetables after they had been sprayed. So I couldn’t spray them and then sell them to other people. It might harm them,’’ she says.

That was a progressive notion back in the early 1990s, and it wasn’t shared by many of her neighbors. While consumers in many Western nations were increasingly becoming health conscious and choosing to buy organic and pesticide-free vegetables and fruits, there was little to no demand for this from the Thai public. When Somjit would bring her organically-grown vegetables to market to sell, they weren’t as picture perfect as those that had been sprayed, and so people wouldn’t buy them. She had no market.

Somjit, however, was firm in her beliefs. And fortunately, some government officials were beginning to share them. The governor of her province urged her to sell her produce at a market patronized by many government officials, and he urged them to buy from her. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

And with that encouragement, others in Somjit’s village of Baan Huay Phra also became interested. With 64 other farming housewives, she formed the Baan Huay Phra chemical-free vegetable production group. And for pioneering the project, she was elected chairwoman.

Soon, they got another stroke of good fortune. A company named Kamphaeng-saen Commercial, which exports fruits and vegetables to the European Union, was looking for farmers to supply organic produce to meet the demands of European consumers. The company gave Somjit and her group a contract to supply them. “That changed our lives a lot,’’ Somjit says. “Before, many of us were in debt. Now we can all sustain ourselves.”

The demand for healthy, safe and organic produce has been growing, and Somjit and her group from Baan Huay Phra have played a part in that by launching food safety awareness campaigns. They’ve learned how devise effective marketing plans, and are skilled at negotiating with exporters because they are organized.

Now they are selling asparagus, morning glory, and several varieties of basil in significant quantities to a variety of companies. Organic foods are the trend for the future, and more Thai farmers should recognize that, Somjit says. “This could be good for our country and our economy. And most importantly, it can allow us to continue with our traditional farming life,’’ It hasn’t made the women rich, but Somjit says that is not her goal. “I just want people to have enough and to eat what is right and healthy,’’ she says

From ahead of her time, to a woman of the times, the world has finally caught up with the wisdom of Somjit Praisimuang.



More information at:
http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en/