The two main issues of Mae La are that it is over-populated
and there is a lack of food supply. The
camp is no longer growing from immigration, but it’s increasingly growing from
within. The population is growing from
within because a larger family gets larger rations. In other words, a child
gets the same ration as an adult, meaning that families with many children are getting
more rations and eating better. Thus, having 6-8 children has become the norm.
With an increase in food supply, having large families would
no longer be ideal because everyone would be given an appropriate amount of
food. This would halt the population growth and allow the camp to focus on
issues other than food source and over-population. Ultimately, allowing the
camp to self-sustain.
The average farm area per person in
Thailand has long been constant at around 1.5 acres (.61 ha), but 50,000
refugees in Mae La are farming from a measly 14 acres (5.6 ha). That’s the equivalent of 3,570 people per
acre (.4 ha) of farmland. Fortunately, TBBC also provides food supply to the
camp, but the goal is for the camp to live autonomously.
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| Mae La population : farmland ratio |
Thailand is divided in four farming regions,
with the overall average farm size being 11 acres (4.51 ha). Farm size in the
Central region (5.45 ha or 13.5 acres) is the largest of the four regions. The
Northeastern region averages 11 acres (4.51 ha), the Southern with 10.5 acres (4.24
ha) and the Northern with 10 acres (3.97 ha).
Farmland within the different regions
varies according to land fertility and the type of crop grown. Less fertile soil
requires more farmland in order to maintain a minimum supply level, but more
fertile land will have an increase in supply per acre. Mae La is located in the Northern region where
land is more fertile, thus they don’t need as much area to produce a lot of
supply. The fertile soil also means they can produce up to three crops per
year.
Thailand produces four major crops: rice,
maize, cassava and soybean in the four different regions. Land fertility has
some effect on the type of crop grown. Maize and cassava are grown on the least
fertile land (the eastern provinces of the Central and Northeastern regions)
and are usually produced on fairly large farms. Farmland in the Northern and Southern
regions are much smaller, but offset by greater fertility.
It is common, in rainfed areas, to
diversify crop production to maintain greater fertility and reduce the risk of
a poor growing season. For the same reason, multiple cropping and integrated
farming systems were promoted in irrigated areas. A popular integrated farming
system is fish culture and poultry raising, combined with field and tree crops.
The Mae La refugee camp does not have the
knowledge nor the ability to irrigate an increased area of farmland, but the
high levels of rain make for good rainfed production during the rainy season. Irrigation
could be a future addition to allow year-round production. For now, we will
focus on increasing farmland to improve rainfed production during the rainy
seasons.
The second largest component of agriculture is livestock
production. Thailand farmers are increasing production in broiler chickens,
cows, and pigs whenever crop production has slowed. This is also known as “integrating
crop-livestock farming”; which could be valuable in a rainfed area such as Mae
La where they are unable to produce crops during dry seasons. Thus livestock
could be maintained in “dead” areas and moved as the seasons and crops change.
Also look at: FFTC: Food & Fertilizer Technology Center
