Beyond farming: First women-only visit from Myanmar to Thailand's highlands

Doi Inthanon (Thailand), 1 October 2024  ̶  Nang Kham Li stares at the new, bright green shrub—created with the bottom half of one plant and the top half of another—in admiration. She stretches out her arm, pulls out a pen from her hair, opens her notebook and starts to write, occasionally looking at the lady in front performing the plant-grafting magic.

Nang Kham Li is part of a group of women farmers from Myanmar who have been learning about sustainable farming in the highlands of Thailand, with the support of the Royal Project Foundation and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

But this first all-women’s visit to Doi Inthanon is about more than just agriculture. It was designed to give these farmers the opportunity to witness firsthand the crucial role women can play in driving development, particularly in a country like Myanmar, where vulnerable farming communities cultivate illicit crops such as opium to survive.

“Normally, [in Myanmar] women are expected to stay at home and take care of the kitchen and the family. But here in Thailand, in the highlands, every woman has a role. People in the community respect them,” said Nang San Hlaing. She is the leader of a women farmers’ community group in Shan State, Myanmar, where they have replaced opium with coffee with UNODC support.

Not just a change, a transformation

The farmers visited by the group from Myanmar belong to the hilltribes of Doi (Mount) Inthanon in northern Thailand. These tribes successfully shifted from growing opium in the 1960s to creating their own sustainable ecosystem of opium-free fields today, serving as a model for the world.

Behind this success lies the work of one of UNODC’s key partners in this field: The Royal Project Foundation. The Foundation, or RPF, boasts a 55-year-long track record of transforming highland poverty-stricken communities dependent on narcotic crops into models of sustainable growth and self-sufficiency.

A key concept of alternative development is not just to change but to fundamentally transform, aiming to elevate people’s quality of life beyond the simple substitution of one crop for another.

Opium: 0, coffee: 1

Kerd Panakamnerd is 77 years old. His parents, grandparents, and great grandparents grew opium, and so did he, his wife, and his children.

“Everyone grew opium. My neighbours, my friends. In fact, I did not know anybody who didn’t,” he said.

 

Panakamnerd himself taught his children how to cut the poppy they grew with a sharp knife and extract the resin liquid that would come out of it slowly, just like his father had taught him, and like his grandfather had taught his father. “Growing poppy gives you a stable income, but you live in fear.”

Following a visit by his Majesty King Rama IX to the highlands in 1969, the Foundation started introducing other crops like strawberries, with the hope that farmers would slowly replace opium poppy with licit crops that grew well in cold temperatures.

Panakamnerd’s family was cautious. “At first, we grew strawberries in parallel to the poppy, because we could not trust that strawberries alone would give us a stable income.” Today, he and his family grow coffee.

“My children grow coffee, too, but perhaps their children will grow other crops—who knows? What I know for sure is that they will not grow poppy. We are here to live, and not to play hide-and-seek.”

 

Yet in Myanmar, many farmers still grow illicit drug crops. They are concentrated in poor, isolated areas where obtaining enough income from legal activities is difficult partly because of conflict, but mostly because of the conditions of the territory. With windy, dirt roads and no infrastructure, it is harder for these farmers to enter new markets. It is much easier for a farmer to swing on a backpack full of opium and take it down a dirt road on a bike to a drug trafficker than it is to 
transport lettuce, for instance, which is much more easily damaged or spoiled by the time it reaches the supplier.

Coffee, on the other hand, is different. It grows at high altitudes and provides a viable opportunity for farmers to generate income.

Its resilience to these conditions make it an ideal option for UNODC alternative development programmes. UNODC has been assisting farming communities in Myanmar and Lao People’s Democratic Republic on coffee cultivation, along with other crops, for over a decade. Beyond switching crops, these sustainable development efforts involve support in entrepreneurship, civil society engagement, environmental preservation and gender equality.

 

Becoming a self-sustainable community

Back in the highlands of Thailand, Nang Kham Li has finished jotting down her notes on grafting. She tucks her pen back into her braid and follows the group to the next phase of the training. “Now, you do it,” the Thai trainer says to her, handing her the plant.

In Myanmar’s Shan State, the hope lies with women farmers like Nang Kham Li. UNODC has promoted the active participation of women leaders in value chains, where they hold various roles, including at the executive level. It has supported 385 women in remote communities across the country to form more than 30 groups focused on productive initiatives such as greenhouses and plant nurseries for coffee and other crops. This has led to a community-driven movement where women are actively involved in production, making business decisions and playing a key role in linking to new markets.

“The idea behind visits like these to Thailand are not just for the women farmers to gain technical knowledge,” says Jaime Eduardo Pérez, UNODC alternative development expert, “but to create a realistic image in their minds of a self-sustainable community in which many women have a leading role, and to show them that one day this can also be possible in Myanmar.”

Click here to see more photos of the visit.

Click here to learn more about UNODC’s work on alternative development.

Click here to learn more about UNODC’s work in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.