Learning Process to Self-Reliance: A Case Study of “Parachute” Organic Rice Farming

Abstract

Objectives of the present participatory action research were firstly to develop the learning process of self-reliance through “parachute” organic rice cultivation for Hinrae village, Sanamchaikhet district, Chachoengsao province in the
economics, natural resources and social/cultural aspect and, secondly, to compare “parachute” organic rice farming against wet seeded organic rice farming in terms of growth, incidence of disease outbreak and rice yield. Studying processes
employed in this study were participation, learning and knowledge sharing, collaborative decision making, self-management, resource and product sharing.
The main techniques adopted were Appreciation Influence Control (A-I-C), group meeting, observation, interviews and data collection.

Results obtained on comparative study on parachute and wet seeded organic rice farming showed that, during the first 4 months of cultivation of “parachute” organic rice, growth rate (height), tiller number/bunch, incidence of disease outbreak and rice yield were 33-40 cm/month, 27.0±7.7 shoots/plant,
0-40% and 485-545 kg/rai, respectively, which are significantly higher than those of the wet seeded organic rice planting (p≤0.05). In addition, it was found that production cost of “parachute” organic rice was approximately 2.7 to 3.7 baht/
kgpaddy which is lowered than that of the wet seeded organic rice farming, 4.3 to 7.2 baht/kgpaddy. Economically, the “parachute” organic rice farming led to the highest
community saving of 7.56-8.67 million baths/year whilst wet seeded organic and chemical rice farming rendered, respectively, the saving of 3.67-5.24 and 0.45-1.8 million baths/year. It was found further that application of parachute transplanting
method in organic rice farming could alleviate environmental impact as less chemical fertilizers of approximately 100 kg/rai/year or 40 tons/year was employed. For social behavior dimension, it was found that participants partaking in the learning process of “parachute” organic rice farming were more self-reliant in that members are more inclined to sharing resources necessary for the learning activities, scheduling
of group activities, creating rules on team working and resource conservation. Observable results on advantages of the “parachute”organic rice farming and knowledge learnt indicated that 35.5% members has adopted the “parachute”
organic rice practice instead of the wet seeded chemical rice farming. Results further showed that participants have encouraged new members to join the learning group. This study showed that parachute’s organic rice cultivation enable selfreliance of agricultural community.