Jefferson Fellows explore rice farming techniques in Northern Thailand

 Jefferson Fellows explore food security, policies in Thailand
(CHAING RAI AND BANGKOK, THAILAND)-This year’s Jefferson Fellowship is concluding this week with a fascinating trip to Thailand, where the fellows are learning about food security and seeing a number of best practices up close.

The East-West Center’s Jefferson Fellowship each year takes 10-12 journalists from the Asia Pacific region on a study and reporting tour. The fellows’ previous stops this month were in Honolulu and Jakarta, Indonesia.

During their visit to Chiang Rai and Bangkok, the fellows visited:

--A CP Foundation school where the students learn not only the three R’s but also self sufficiency through raising chickens and selling their eggs;

--Several organizations that work with farmers on sustainable, organic agricultural practices;

--APTERR, which hosts a strategic rice reserve for ASEAN nations plus China, Japan, and South Korea. Since 2011, they’ve distributed 60,000 metric tons of rice to needy countries, primarily Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Cambodia.

--Bangkok Rooftop Farming, which has a large urban farming and compost production facility on top of a shopping mall;

Bangkok rooftop farming is located on a mall's roof

--Farmers who have transitioned from producing opium to producing agricultural products like peaches and coffee. The farmers insist that they make more money now producing coffee than they did with opium. Interesting.

The fellows also visited with UN officials from the Food and Agriculture Organization, where officials emphasized the outsize role of affordability on food security. In this region, 36% can’t afford a healthy diet. We also visited with the World Food Programme in Bangkok, where we heard a fascinating presentation on food security particularly as it relates to refugees and internally displaced persons. In short, there is a malnutrition crisis impacting 1.3 million migrants in the region. The food security situation is especially dire, according to WFP Regional Director Samir Wanmali, when food is used as a weapon of war.

All three stops have been interesting, stimulating, and surprising. Next week, I’ll wrap up my columns on the Jefferson Fellowship with some conclusions and reflections.