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Project Ideas- Burning
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The general information on field burning is meant to show that a number of variables must enter into a farmer's decisions to move away from field burning, enough so that a PCV or volunteer extension worker ought to pause before recommending a change in local practices. That having been said, a volunteer has a simple and effective way of measuring and weighing these variables:
If a successful local farmer has chosen not to burn his/her fields, it is possible for local farmers not to burn their fields.
The most effective way for a volunteer to change the habits at their site requires the volunteer to first find a farmer who has made the change and has seen success in his or her results. Ideally you would then engage the farmer as a trainer by using SCR. But even if their disposition or status in the community precludes this. the reality of their success is proof that success is possible.
[Stupidly obvious but important caveat: make sure your "successful non-burner" is both 1) successful and 2) a non-burner. The former can be ascertained by speaking with other local farmers or by employing an informal visual wealth survey. For the latter, make sure to confirm with the farmer that they do not burn. At all. Not just right now, but also not in a month, right after the rainy season, or any other abnormal time of the year. That their field is the only non-charred field around is a good sign of no-burn crop residue management, but it is not a guarantee.]
Assuming you are unable to use the successful non-burn in an SCR-like farmer-teaching-farmer program, you can attempt to use their success as a catalyst for approaching other local leaders: your SAO Agricultural Worker, your Gaset Tambon, your village's maw diin, for example. They may have thoughts on trainings or incentives for farmers.
For farmers who burn to eliminate weeds, one option is to advocate the use of a cover crop such as beans. If a field is planted with a productive crop (one that can be used as animal feed or sold) rather than allowed to go fallow, farmers may find there is much less organic material to deal with prior to planting (and beans help increase Nitrogen in the soil, too). Once again, an influential and knowledgeable counterpart ought to be central to this.
--
There are rumors of a Thai government program that will supply heavy machinery if local farmers commit to moving away from field burning. If you are in a flat region, you could speak with your SAO Agricultural Worker, your Gaset Tambon or village leaders about the program.
--
For areas where the elimination of burning seems unrealistic, it is possible to reduce the negative effects:
1) According to the Washington State Department of Ecology, the best way to reduce smoke and other particulates is to burn with a hot fire. To do so, crop residue should be as dry as possible, with pieces as small in size as is possible. Obviously, farmers should attempt to remove any non-organic waste before lighting the fire. Thai farmers use far fewer plastics and metals in their fields than Western farmers (or do a better job of reusing those materials), making it a matter of properly disposing of personal trash.
2) Most crop residue can be used as animal feed. Promoting cooperation between local "chao-na" and "chao-liang" can reduce the amount of material to be burned.
3) Also from Washington State: "if burning a field, light the downwind side of the field. The fire burns more slowly, but more thoroughly. It produces fewer particles and doesn’t leave behind as many smoldering, smoky patches."
4) If the burning is necessary because of heavy weed growth between harvest and the next season's planting, one successful option is to advocate the planting of a "cover crop" such as beans (see also, intercropping). Cover crops can either be a saleable plant like mung beans or a nutrient-rich plant (any legume) that is not harvested but rather integrated back into the soil as a "green manure". In both cases, the farmer will gain benefits from the off-season planting while also reducing the growth of weeds- which are less able to complete with the chosen plant. Cover crops also reduce erosion.* Farmers my still decide to burn crop residue prior to planting their main crop, but they will be left with less residue to burn and therefore ought to be more amicable to future anti-burning campaigns, as the act will begin to provide lessened obvious benefits to their planting process.
As with other ideas stated here, advocating large changes in the crop cycle should only be done alongside a respected and knowledgeable local counterpart, and is well suited for the use of SCR.
5) Finally, though you may see no opening to influence present farming habits in your community, more general anti-burning campaigns- such as anti-trash burning- targeted towards your community's youth may plant the proverbial seed of an idea in the minds of the future farmers of tomorrow. Which brings us to:
Other related "burning/fire" project thoughts: "agricultural and environmental activities that might secondarily get the kids to reduce large-scale burning in twenty year's time."
1) If field burning is decreased, some farmers may need to rely more upon chemical pesticides and herbicides. So set up a training on organic alternatives.
2) Trash burning. We're hoping to get more specific information on anti-trash burning programs onto to the Wiki sooner rather than later. In the meantime, walk out, grab Khun Yai's broom while she's striking up her lighter and sweep her little burn pile into your compost pile. Bonus points for actively showing her (and the kids shocked at your indiscretion) how to separate out the Mackerel can and water bottle. If you're real hardcore, pull a plastic bag out from Yai's pile, wave it in front of the kiddies, say "mai dii", and then run inside to grab your own personal cloth shopping bag. To make your demonstration especially memorable, light the cloth satchel aflame to prove how far less cancerous it smells. (final step should not be used with recycled plastic bag satchels, though. Or homemade adobe shopping bags.)
2a) Really, though, small scale compost demonstrations could go a long way towards changing the future farming habits of your village's youth.
3) Somewhat connected to forest fires and certainly a contributor to village-level air pollution, cooking fuel is a potential location for PCV intervention. PC-Thailand and ROOT Group are especially fond of either charcoal-making trainings and biogas for household consumption (or, "Turning Pig S**t into Pad Sai Eewww")
* Traditional Field Crops notes the following concerns with 'green manure" plants- though specific costs and benefits should be discussed at your local level:
• Few farmers are willing to tie up their land growing a non-harvested crop.
• The effect of green manure crops on soils is short-lived under tropical conditions.
• The green manure crop may use up soil moisture needed by the next crop.
If a successful local farmer has chosen not to burn his/her fields, it is possible for local farmers not to burn their fields.
The most effective way for a volunteer to change the habits at their site requires the volunteer to first find a farmer who has made the change and has seen success in his or her results. Ideally you would then engage the farmer as a trainer by using SCR. But even if their disposition or status in the community precludes this. the reality of their success is proof that success is possible.
[Stupidly obvious but important caveat: make sure your "successful non-burner" is both 1) successful and 2) a non-burner. The former can be ascertained by speaking with other local farmers or by employing an informal visual wealth survey. For the latter, make sure to confirm with the farmer that they do not burn. At all. Not just right now, but also not in a month, right after the rainy season, or any other abnormal time of the year. That their field is the only non-charred field around is a good sign of no-burn crop residue management, but it is not a guarantee.]
Assuming you are unable to use the successful non-burn in an SCR-like farmer-teaching-farmer program, you can attempt to use their success as a catalyst for approaching other local leaders: your SAO Agricultural Worker, your Gaset Tambon, your village's maw diin, for example. They may have thoughts on trainings or incentives for farmers.
For farmers who burn to eliminate weeds, one option is to advocate the use of a cover crop such as beans. If a field is planted with a productive crop (one that can be used as animal feed or sold) rather than allowed to go fallow, farmers may find there is much less organic material to deal with prior to planting (and beans help increase Nitrogen in the soil, too). Once again, an influential and knowledgeable counterpart ought to be central to this.
--
There are rumors of a Thai government program that will supply heavy machinery if local farmers commit to moving away from field burning. If you are in a flat region, you could speak with your SAO Agricultural Worker, your Gaset Tambon or village leaders about the program.
--
For areas where the elimination of burning seems unrealistic, it is possible to reduce the negative effects:
1) According to the Washington State Department of Ecology, the best way to reduce smoke and other particulates is to burn with a hot fire. To do so, crop residue should be as dry as possible, with pieces as small in size as is possible. Obviously, farmers should attempt to remove any non-organic waste before lighting the fire. Thai farmers use far fewer plastics and metals in their fields than Western farmers (or do a better job of reusing those materials), making it a matter of properly disposing of personal trash.
2) Most crop residue can be used as animal feed. Promoting cooperation between local "chao-na" and "chao-liang" can reduce the amount of material to be burned.
3) Also from Washington State: "if burning a field, light the downwind side of the field. The fire burns more slowly, but more thoroughly. It produces fewer particles and doesn’t leave behind as many smoldering, smoky patches."
4) If the burning is necessary because of heavy weed growth between harvest and the next season's planting, one successful option is to advocate the planting of a "cover crop" such as beans (see also, intercropping). Cover crops can either be a saleable plant like mung beans or a nutrient-rich plant (any legume) that is not harvested but rather integrated back into the soil as a "green manure". In both cases, the farmer will gain benefits from the off-season planting while also reducing the growth of weeds- which are less able to complete with the chosen plant. Cover crops also reduce erosion.* Farmers my still decide to burn crop residue prior to planting their main crop, but they will be left with less residue to burn and therefore ought to be more amicable to future anti-burning campaigns, as the act will begin to provide lessened obvious benefits to their planting process.
As with other ideas stated here, advocating large changes in the crop cycle should only be done alongside a respected and knowledgeable local counterpart, and is well suited for the use of SCR.
5) Finally, though you may see no opening to influence present farming habits in your community, more general anti-burning campaigns- such as anti-trash burning- targeted towards your community's youth may plant the proverbial seed of an idea in the minds of the future farmers of tomorrow. Which brings us to:
Other related "burning/fire" project thoughts: "agricultural and environmental activities that might secondarily get the kids to reduce large-scale burning in twenty year's time."
1) If field burning is decreased, some farmers may need to rely more upon chemical pesticides and herbicides. So set up a training on organic alternatives.
2) Trash burning. We're hoping to get more specific information on anti-trash burning programs onto to the Wiki sooner rather than later. In the meantime, walk out, grab Khun Yai's broom while she's striking up her lighter and sweep her little burn pile into your compost pile. Bonus points for actively showing her (and the kids shocked at your indiscretion) how to separate out the Mackerel can and water bottle. If you're real hardcore, pull a plastic bag out from Yai's pile, wave it in front of the kiddies, say "mai dii", and then run inside to grab your own personal cloth shopping bag. To make your demonstration especially memorable, light the cloth satchel aflame to prove how far less cancerous it smells. (final step should not be used with recycled plastic bag satchels, though. Or homemade adobe shopping bags.)
2a) Really, though, small scale compost demonstrations could go a long way towards changing the future farming habits of your village's youth.
3) Somewhat connected to forest fires and certainly a contributor to village-level air pollution, cooking fuel is a potential location for PCV intervention. PC-Thailand and ROOT Group are especially fond of either charcoal-making trainings and biogas for household consumption (or, "Turning Pig S**t into Pad Sai Eewww")
* Traditional Field Crops notes the following concerns with 'green manure" plants- though specific costs and benefits should be discussed at your local level:
• Few farmers are willing to tie up their land growing a non-harvested crop.
• The effect of green manure crops on soils is short-lived under tropical conditions.
• The green manure crop may use up soil moisture needed by the next crop.
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Latest page update: made by peteo
, May 15 2009, 4:36 AM EDT
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