Thai farm schemes will grants

They are among seven winners from five Asian countries in the regionwide competition organised by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada.

Juthathip Chalermphol, a doctor of technical science at AIT's School of Environment Resource and Development and lecturer at Chiang Mai University won the competition with her topic 'Surge of highinput hybrid vegetable production: Is the innovation propoor and gender sensitive?'

Another winning Thai research topic was 'Lazy Gardens: a sustainable alternative for remote poor rural communities in northern Thailand' by Australian researcher Louis Lebel and his Thai researcher assistant Songphonsak Ratanawilailak.

Five other awardees included researchers from Vietnam, South Korea, India and the Philippines -

each receiving grants of around 15,00020,000 Canadian dollars (Bt450,000Bt600,000) to put their proposals into action.

Juthathip said her research would involve the work of agriculturists in two districts of Chiang Mai province, focusing on their use of pesticides.

"Many agriculturists have heard that growing nontoxic vegetables is the best way- but most still use pesticides. My team will study factors to find out why they don't adopt the technology," Juthathip said.

She will work onsite to meet farmers who use pesticides and share their experiences on nontoxic farming techniques with those who don't.

Songphonsak, who is about to carry out a study about 'lazy gardens', said they would promote the gardens as an alternative or supplementary activity for agriculturists in Chiang Mai.

Lazy gardens, the name translated from local Karen dialect, are Karenstyle gardens of dozens of plants, such as various edible plants, herbs and trees that can be used as firewood or to build houses.

"Many locals growing only commercial vegetables have been affected by low prices. As a result, they face losses and are in debt. In contrast, others who have such lazy gardens can make use of everything in the gardens in different ways. Although, they don't earn so much money, they won't risk being in debt. This kind of garden suits poor people," Songphonsak said.

The award ceremony was held yesterday at Bangkok's Rama Gardens Hotel.

The next call for proposals will be announced in July for other interested young researchers at www.bioinnovationpolicies.ait.asia.