Isan Region, Thailand, May 2020
Thanks to your donations, 2,500 native tree seedlings will be planted between June and August 2020 in organic rice growing communities in Thailand’s northeastern Isan region.
The new planting season started by sharing the planting program with farmers and pre-registration of interested participants. This first step was completed just in time, before the first case of Covid-19 was declared in the region.
To prepare for the upcoming planting campaign, agronomists visited a number of beneficiaries to assess and together discuss planting models and the most appropriate tree species for the region in question. Preventive measures were taken, including the distribution of masks and hydro-alcoholic gel to keep farmers and agronomists safe.
By the end of March, all the GPS traces needed to locate each planting site had been collected and the planting capacity assessed.
To ensure the local population is self reliant, our planting partner Pur Projet set up community nurseries three years ago and organised training courses on seedling production. At this time, 100% of the seedlings came from commercial nurseries outside the community; yet today this share represents less than 20%, a sign that these community nurseries are proving successful!
Next steps: distribution of seedlings to farmers and start of the planting season from June to August 2020. Farmers will be supported during the planting phase, taking care that planting patterns are respected so that farmers benefit from all the advantages of agroforestry.
