Towards A Sustainable Life At Pun Pun In Thailand
A few month ago, we spent some days in a project called Pun Pun located in Northern Thailand. Pun Pun means “a thousand varieties” and is an organic farm as well as a learning center for sustainable living. About twenty people live permanently in the community, mostly locals.
Jon’s story and the beginning of Pun Pun
Pun Pun was founded in 2003 by a Thai citizen, Jon Jandai. After his studies in Bangkok, Jon decided to stay in the capital to “succeed in life”. Although we worked up to 12 hours daily, Jon earned just enough money to rent a small room and pay for his meals. These years were challenging and Jon wondered a lot about his life mission and his future. He doubted that his living conditions in Bangkok would really improve.
Jon was often thinking about his childhood in the countryside. His parents ran a farm in the province of Chiang Mai, a region where rural life was simple and peaceful: fruits and vegetables grew easily and villagers helped each other on a frequent basis. Convinced that he would never fit with the urban life, Jon finally left Bangkok and came back to Ban Pao, the village where he grew up. He started to work on a piece of land that belonged to his family. During that period of reconversion, Jon learned a lot about mud-brick building, how to use solar energy and how to grow fruits and vegetables without chemicals. He has opened Pun Pun’s doors to other locals, offering them to move to his land, gradually creating the community we were glad to meet and collaborate with.
Today Pun Pun welcomes volunteers from all over the world to participate in the community’s activities and learn more about sustainable living. Jon has also opened two restaurants in Chiang Mai that serve healthy meals and sell a few products made by the community, such as natural soaps and cashew nut butter. Many groups also come to Pun Pun to follow courses on organic farming, permaculture, natural building and local cuisine. Many of the participants currently live in a busy city and now dream of following Jon’s path: moving to a rural area and benefiting from better living conditions.
Indigenous VS hybrid seeds
When Jon returned to his hometown in 2003, life had somewhat changed. From an agriculture designed for personal and local consumption, farmers began to use hybrid seeds to enter national and international markets. Short-term gains taunted by the agribusiness giants (Monsanto, DuPont, Limagrain, Syngenta) seemed attractive and locals borrowed large amounts of money to buy the chemical pesticides and fertilizers required to grow these lab-produced seeds. Today, all of the farmers have become highly dependant of these multinationals and banks are pressuring to get loans repaid.
Aware that in India more than 100,000 indebted farmers commit suicide every year, Jon fears that a similar fatal movement emerges in his country. He actively militates for organic farming practices that limit middlemen; thankfully, he has gained notoriety in Thailand for his activism. To defy the massive movement of seed privatization ruled by Western multinationals, Pun Pun has become specialized in the free distribution of seeds that have been carefully selected by the community. In order to develop the practice of seed saving nationwide, Jon recently created a co-operative and invites those involved in the project — such as farms and restaurants — to buy the company’s shares. Thus the organization is managed in a democratic way by the stakeholders: one share = one vote at the management board. In addition to offering a serious alternative to the agriculture business, Jon wants to share a large variety of seeds that promote biodiversity, resilience and life.
In 2011, Jon was invited to attend a TED event. His conference “Life is easy. Why do we make it so hard?” has been viewed more than 5 million times on YouTube. We highly recommend that you watch it too!
What is your experience with the development of organic farming practices and the growing resistance movement to face seed privatization? Are you inspired by Jon’s lifestyle, quitting the urban life to live closer to nature and like-minded people? Looking forward to reading your thoughts.
Warmly
Ruth & Thomas
