Forest Fires: “A National Sport”?
“Setting fire to forests is a national sport in this country,” Jacques Cavin told a Chiang Mai audience on July 30th.
Referring to the controversial “slash and burn” technique of agriculture, he declared: “We don’t do that. We buy produce from the forest to make fertiliser without chemicals.”
Jacques was describing Natural Agriculture Co Ltd, the business of his wife Khun Uraiwan, which combines Swiss expertise with local ingredients with the aim of reducing Thailand’s reliance on chemical fertiliser.
“Thailand uses 4 million tons of chemical fertiliser each year. The soil is eroded and I believe the country is now going through what Europe did 20 years ago” said Jacques.
Khun Uraiwan and her team use produce from 16 square kilometers of forest and 7 rai of garden in Ban Thi.
“We obtained Board Of Investment status in less than one month, and everything is going very quickly because people know this is needed” added Jacques. “We give people the recipe for our fertiliser. Please feel free to copy us!” he invited.
Jacques was speaking at the monthly dinner meeting of the SKAL international tourism club at the Holiday Inn.
For more information, e-mail: jcavin@bluewin.ch
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