Blog Post #27 - Sustainable Development through Organic Farming

This next blog post is dedicated to my dad and uncle Jonty because both of them are passionate gardeners, and work hard to grow MANY organic vegetables (although my family is suspicious that my dad spends more time sleeping on the lawn chair next to his garden. I will reconfirm when I am back in Calgary this summer).

I have made a previous post about organic farming (Blog Post #17 - Organic Conversion of Smallholder Farmers), but yesterday I took a field trip with the Ministry of Agriculture to visit the village that supplies one of the two large organic markets here in Vientiane. Having limited knowledge of good organic practices, I was more impressed with their dedication to sustainable development principles (where I have only slightly a bit more understanding). 

The ministry is right next door to my apartment so it took me 10 minutes to roll out of bed,
throw on my bucket hat and stroll over to catch the bus

Sustainable development has at least three main pillars: environmental protection, shared economic benefits, and community relationship building (which includes breaking down gender barriers). At the farm, we witnessed the villagers working hard to accomplish all three (with fewer lawn chairs and less obvious sleeping, if at all).

Have you ever seen this back home?

Environmental Protection

For the farmers at the village, that meant replacing chemical pesticide and fertilizer with natural alternatives. Although the produce may not appear as large and lush, organic practices help soil conservation, water conservation, biodiversity, and overall human health.

I cannot say I have made the switch to organic back home, but I have been given a pretty compelling case for doing so. Now I just need to negotiate a better salary from Deloitte ;)

A solar panel light trap, great for catching moths and their hungry caterpillar children

Insects apparently do not like the smell of lemon grass,
so not only a pest deterrence but another produce to sell at the market
(Maybe I should've just left my shoes in the field at the end of a hot day)

All of those yellow strips are covered in insects.
Less effective but not overly costly to implement

Shared Economic Benefits

The village head said that they had collectively made the decision to switch to organic vegetable farming seven years ago. They now make more money from one month of vegetables sales than they did from a full year of rice cultivation! Historically they had only ever produced enough rice to feed themselves with very little remaining for commercial sale. This is a very similar situation to the farmers we work with in Xieng Khouang province.

They use rice husks as an ingredient for compost.
Making sure nothing goes to waste

Who knew that's where broccoli came from?

Although vegetables are their specialty, freshly picked papayas are never in short supply

All good photographers slightly cover their lens with a finger when taking pictures of spinach

My dad is getting jealous of the Lao farmers and their produce

Community Relationship Building

There are 77 families working together to establish the organic market, promote organic improvements and monitor neighbors' organic farms. I think is an excellent example of a community working together to ensure shared prosperity. As a group, they have also successfully created a 100 million Lao Kip ($12,000 USD) savings fund. It can be used for micro-loans or an emergency fund if a production season runs into trouble.

It's tough to delineate where one farmer's produce ends and another's begins

Here the village head is explaining the record keeping that is completed to monitor organic production.
Keeping such records is important to maintain organic certification.

Although gender based roles are still entrenched, women do play a important role in the community. When asked about getting more involved in production decision-making they said they were much better at selling and handling the money anyways. They control when their husbands are able to buy any BeerLao. Now that is power!

Was not sure where in sustainable development using tires to support tree growth was relevant,
but I think it is creative so it deserves a mention