Lowland Khon Muang Agriculture: Dynamics
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LOWLAND KHON MUANG AGRICULTURE: DYNAMICS OF A SYSTEM IN CHANGE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Stephen Paul Zolvinski, B.A., M.A. The Ohio State University 2004 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Dr. Chung-Min Chen, Adviser Dr. Robert Agunga _______________________ Dr. Richard Moore Adviser Dr. Amy Zaharlick Department of Anthropology Copyright by Stephen Paul Zolvinski 2004 ABSTRACT This study examines the causes and effects of agricultural change in a lowland Khon Muang hamlet in Mae Chaem District, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. Lucien Hanks’ classic study of agricultural change in the Central Plain of Thailand drew upon agricultural economist Ester Boserup’s emphasis on population growth to explain farmers’ intensification of irrigated rice fields. This study applies Hanks’ model to a northern Thai multi-cropping hamlet in an intermontaine valley, which overcame annual rice deficits two decades ago due to the introduction of high-yielding rice varieties by a Royal Thai Government- U.S. Agency for International Development project. Rice yields have nearly tripled, providing food security for the hamlet. Meantime, farmers have expanded to cash-cropping in harvested rice paddies and to ecologically vulnerable hills where they grow seed maize under contract to the Thai multinational agroindustrial firm, Charoen Pokaphand Group. This study found that 76 percent of the hamlet’s agricultural land area was in hill crops, or five times the amount of ground in rice paddies. Continuous hill production can pose potential problems for watershed functioning and the ecological stability of the highland area. In addition to the development intervention, an extensive road system is an impetus for change by linking farmers to middlemen and outside markets. The study concludes that Boserup’s population thesis is too reductionistic because the ii changes in this hamlet occurred while population stabilized. Hanks’ overall model provides some insight because its holism takes into account state interventions in terms of infrastructure improvements and the effects of globalization. This study conforms that environmental deterioration is not necessarily the result of poverty or low-producing agricultural systems, but it can be due to a state-promoted “development dynamic,” as asserted by geographer Philip Hirsch. This study also contributes to our understanding of northern Thai agriculture by including homegardens in the analysis. Homegarden production is often slighted in Thai agricultural studies, but is important in terms of household subsistence, ritual life, and also provides economic benefits. iii Dedicated to my parents, Frank and Frances Zolvinski iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I want to thank the residents of my field site, Baan Lek Hamlet, and to all the people of Mae Chaem District for being great teachers on lowland Khon Muang culture and agriculture. They showed generous cooperation and hospitality to this farang researcher who spent seven months in their midst. Secondly, I am grateful to my dissertation committee for their steady guidance, patience, and academic training in my many years at Ohio State University. I am indebted to my adviser, Dr. Chung-Min Chen, and to committee members Dr. Robert Agunga, Dr. Richard Moore, and Dr. Amy Zaharlick. I also want to express my special thanks to Dr. Anthony Walker, now at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam, whose seminars at OSU provided an extensive background on Southeast Asian peoples and cultures. Dr. Walker suggested that I study the lowland Khon Muang, and aided me in arranging the necessary contacts in Chiang Mai. Also at OSU, I am grateful to the Office of International Studies who supported this research with an International Travel Grant. I also express great appreciation to my sponsors and fellow researchers in Thailand who fostered the collaborative atmosphere that brought this project to fruition. These include the National Research Council of Thailand whose approval was necessary for obtaining a research visa. I also thank Mr. Mongkol v Chantrabumrong of the Tribal Research Institute, Chiang Mai, the official sponsor of this project. Also I thank Dr. Pornchai Preechapanya, Royal Forestry Department, who introduced me to Mae Chaem District, and gave me practical advice in carrying out this project. Dr. David Thomas, Dr. Horst Weyerhauser, and the Chiang Mai staff of the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), provided the background information essential for the context of this study. I appreciate the lodging at the ICRAF field office in Mae Chaem, which allowed me to focus immediately and completely on my study. I am also grateful to my ICRAF field colleagues in Mae Chaem, Mr. Thanat Phromduang and Ms. Nonglak Kaewphoka, who helped me with the day-to-day minutia of living in a remote mountain district. I shall always treasure their friendship. I am also grateful to my research assistant, Mr. Songdej Kaewkiew, who served as interpreter, field adviser and confidant for the duration of this fieldwork, and who supplied data to me after I left for the United States. Mr. Kaewkiew helped me to maintain a harmonious relationship with the residents of my field site and often provided advice on how to address various issues during the research. I am also grateful to Mr. Sunya, who served as an interpreter during Mr. Kaewkiew’s absence during October 2001. I also express my appreciation to my friend, OSU graduate student Benjamas Promsopone, who acquainted me with Chiang Mai in my first days in country. I also appreciate the friendship of Ranida Chomsong, now a graduate student at the University of Louisville, who extended her hospitality in Chiang Mai when I took breaks from my fieldwork. In addition, I appreciate the help of vi Kanokwan Ukoskit, a retired faculty member of Chiang Mai University, who kindly translated important Thai materials for me. While I was in the field, I depended on support from friends in the United States. My special thanks goes to my friend, Dr. Bang-Chool Kim, who supplied important academic articles to me while I was in the field. My friend, Dr. Gang Chen, also consulted with me about fieldwork problems I encountered in carrying out this ethnographic research. During the write-up phase, I appreciate the tireless efforts of my friends Dr. Tzu-Chi Kuo and Hyunsook Yoon, and Thattawan Kaewsakhorn, who helped me prepare the manuscript for submission. Finally, and not least, I thank my family for continued support and encouragement during my graduate school career. This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Frank and Frances Zolvinski, who greatly influenced me in seeking out this academic degree. My brother, Matthew and his wife Therese, were prime points of e-mail contact while I was in the field, and they provided supplies as needed. My brothers, Lyman, Frank J. and Michael; my sisters, Mary Ann Davenport and Jacqueline Lorzing, and their families, also kept in close contact, providing moral support during this project. To them all, I am grateful. vii VITA Dec. 29, 1952…………………………….. Born – Michigan City, Indiana 1978……………………………………….. B.A. English, Purdue University 1990 - 1993……………………………… Teaching Assistant, Department of Anthropology; Research Assistant, Technology and Social Change Program; Iowa State University 1993…………………………………….…. M.A., Anthropology; minor, Technology and Social Change; Iowa State University 1993 - 2001……………………………… Associate Editor, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, Ohio State University 2002 - 2003……………………………… Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University 2003 - 2004……………………………... Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University viii FIELDS OF STUDY Major field: Anthropology Studies in Human Ecology, Refugee Resettlement and Acculturation, International Development, Southeast Asia ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………….. ii DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………….. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………….. v VITA……………………………………………………………………………….. viii LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………… xiv LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………. xvi LIST OF MAPS…………………………………………………………………… xvii CHAPTER PAGE 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………. 1 Statement of the Problem…………………………………………….…. 2 Purpose of This Study…………………………………………………… 3 Objectives of This Study………………………………………………… 4 Significance of This Study………………………………………………. 5 Limitations of This Study………………………………………………... 8 Structure of This Dissertation…………………………………………... 9 2. MAE CHAEM DISTRICT: GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY AND ETHNICITY……………………………………………………………….. 14 Geography………………………………………………………………… 16 Climate………………………………………………………………. 17 Climate Data Reliability……………………………………………. 18 Climate and Agriculture……………………………………. ………19 History……………………………………………………………………... 23 Legendary and Early Historical Roots…….……………………... 25 The 19th Century………………………………..…………............. 27 The 20th Century………………………..…………………............. 28 x The Recent Past……………………………………………………. 30 Non-Thai Ethnic Groups and Demography……………………………. 31 The Lua……………………………………………...……………… 32 The Karen………………………………..…………………………. 32 The Hmong………………………..……………………….............. 33 Demographic Effects…………………………………….………… 34 Ethnicity, Landscape and Farming………………………............ 36 3. LITERATURE REVIEW I: THEORETICAL ISSUES…………………. 39 Ecological Anthropology………………………………………….……... 40 Thai Farming Systems and Ecological