Sarapi-Chok Chai Cooperative was set up on the 1st April 1978 and has grown from 299 members to over 3,000. The success the co-operative has had with sales means that there are now another 3,400 farmers keen to join.

Paeo, whose name means ‘Scar’, is 72 and has been a member of the co-op since the beginning. “I don’t know how many years I have been a member! Perhaps I was the first. Things are better now than they were then, because the co-op helped me.”

Too often in other organisations the money doesn’t reach the farmers, but here there are internal control systems. Each village selects their inspector to check the books – that’s apart from the 5 audits per year from government inspectors, the bank and so on. Each of the 103 villages that make up the co-op also nominates a leader and out of those leaders the Board is elected at the General Assembly. Four of the current 15 Board members are women, including Na La Porn.

“I want to help the co-operative and the members. I want to have a say in what happens in the co-op. There are lots of women leaders.

“I joined the co-op because then we help each other out and it’s more economic than people just doing their own thing. Every member of the co-op is an owner of the co-op and has shares valued minimum 200 Thai Bhat each. We earn a little bit more by being in the co-op and we have accumulated money for nearly 30 years. It’s a little bit better for the members; the co-op helps with marketing and has more bargaining power with traders.”

The area has very good paddy and three reservoirs provide irrigation to 70% of the members, so there are two crops per year. The first crop is harvested in December and mostly used for home consumption; the second, in May, is for the market. The wet rice is brought to the co-op or the mill for drying. Previously farmers would dry the rice at home in the sun, but the humidity makes that difficult – and if it rains it’s a disaster – and the milling yield is lower if the rice is not properly dried.

Production at Sarapi Chok Chai is organic, but at the moment they can’t afford to become organic certified. In Thung Arun, ‘The Plain of the Sunrise’, they are particularly proud to be chemical free. As you arrive in the village you see a sign declaring that it’s an Organic Village. They’ve been using only organic fertilizer for 4 or 5 years and are seeing a higher yield. Lat Da, the village leader, says that these days the rice harvest will cover the cost of living – “if you don’t count the debts”.

Debt is the biggest problem for the members and it’s often inherited by children. Interest rates on bank loans are around 15% and often the harvest doesn’t bring in enough money to pay back pre-harvest loans. To improve their financial security, the various villages have diversified into other products which are less dependent on the weather.

The co-op now has cassava, sugar cane, vegetables, pepper, roses and orchids and raises some animals for the local market. One village has a kiln and produces pottery; another makes sweet snacks from puffed rice, sesame seeds and sugar; in another members have trained to make coloured mats from the weeds which grow among the rice crops. People don’t want to be idle and they have many raw materials to work with. These options mean there are opportunities for the younger generation so they have a choice and are not forced to leave the land and migrate to the city.

A Nong, the leader of Boeng Pha village, ‘The Swamp of the Gods’, has three daughters. “They used to help in the fields, but now the eldest is a nurse and the second works in a bank. The youngest is still at home but wants to learn about marketing.

“If the rice price is good it has a big effect for us. Rice prices have never been good.”

Sarapi Chok Chai has been certified by FLO since June 2006 and has received only a little money through Fairtrade, but the co-operative has plenty of plans for the premium money. They need a cement floor in the rice drying area and a new roof for the store. Then they’d like to do a study tour to learn about good seed rice production, run training courses on production of organic fertiliser and buy a computerised scale for the rice. The government has plans to expand the in-patient wing at the local hospital but has only contributed 1.8 million of the 8 million Thai Bhat needed for the project, so the co-op would like to make a contribution. The next step would be to start a scholarship fund for fees and uniforms of the children going to primary school.

“We have many plans but we have no money!” says Korowan Yormkratok. who has been the co-op’s manager for 22 years. She is popular with the members because she has a reputation for being strict but very fair. Korowan’s message to Fairtrade customers is clear: “For the rice shoots, we’re waiting for the rain. For our living, we’re waiting for you.”

Notes to staff:
From December there will be a new government subsidised rice price, which is slightly higher than the Fairtrade minimum price.
The potential volume of paddy rice per crop is 20,000MT but not all the members are certified Fairtrade.
An estimated 70% of the members understand what Fairtrade is.

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Fairtrade Foundation 2006

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