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Published on August 22, 2007

An asparagus-farming family has seen its income rise tenfold, from Bt20,000-30,000 per year to Bt200,000-300,000 per year after switching to organic methods. The project has been supported by Swift Co, the country's leading exporter of fresh vegetables.

Before Swift deputed its representative to the community in Sa Kaew province, farmers in the area used to grow cassava and corn. Poor farmers faced financial insecurity because of low and unpredictable income and harvest of cassava and corn.

More than 70 farm families not only had to wrestle with poverty but also health problems due to the use of chemical residues. They also accumulated huge debts because of uncertain revenues and rising costs of production from using more chemicals on the cassava and corn farms.

But that scenario has changed for the better.

Since 2000, when Swift entered the province, the company has advised farmers to grow asparagus using natural methods and stable system of organic farming. The company trained the group leader of the farmers to gradually use natural residues to increase produce and kill pests.

Paphavee Suthavivat, managing director of Swift, says the company has strongly believed in the sufficiency economy and wants to be environmentally friendly. The company has developed its stable farming system in line with international agricultural standards to reap sustainable benefits from farming.

 The international standards the company subscribes to are the EurepGap, the Japanese Agricultural Standard, the organic method and the sufficiency economy.

In each plot, the company forbids entry of animals, smoking and litter, and ensures that it is 20 metres away from other plantation areas to prevent chemical contamination from air or water.

Asparagus production there has reached more than 20,000-30,000 tonnes per day. The produce is accepted by both the European Union and Japan, which are known to have high standards for food safety and environmental treatment.

 "We [the company] want farmers to be independent and also have a better quality of life. The company entered each community to help develop the agricultural system and supported them to have stable income," she explains.

Swift has managed contract deals with about 47 farm families in Sa Kaew province. Each family is guaranteed income based on their planting area, even if production is low.

The company expects to extend the contract farming to 700 families in the next five years.

Nam Chatkornburi, an asparagus grower, said her family was having a better life after entering the contract organic farming project. The family gets an average of about Bt700 to Bt1,000 a day from its two rai of asparagus plantations.

Some families earn up to Bt3,000 a day in peak season.

Phongsak Thamrongratansilp, chairman of the Sa Kaew Organic Farming Association, said that farmers in the area are now happy with the stable system of farming asparagus.

Phongsak, who is a training leader for farmers in Sa Kaew, said Swift was also helping farmers improve their living standards.

Initially, the farmers were unsure whether the new method of growing asparagus would help them, but now more than 300 farm families are partners of the company, covering 1,000 rai of planting area, he said.

Swift offers Bt5 higher than the market price and also covers transportation costs.

The farms grow two types of asparagus - green and white. Farmers can harvest asparagus every day. Green asparagus goes for about Bt40-48 per kilogram while white asparagus, which is in high demand in the European Union market, is priced at Bt50 per kilogram.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai.

The Nation