‘If I am a farmer, I want to tell you all Thais that…’
Students aged between 9 and 14 from Thailand sent their 30-second motion clips under a topic “If you are a farmer, what do you want to tell the Thais?” as part of a ‘Junior Farmer’ video competition organised by the Better Rice Initiatives Asia (BRIA) and BASF in collaboration with Rice Department of Thailand.
The competition is part of an edutainment TV programme “Farmer Love Seeds” aired on Thai television between June and September 2016. The aim of the programme is to educate Thai farmers in sustainable rice farming practices. The aim of the competition is to make the young Thai generation learn about lives of the farmers and express their gratitude to our backbone of the country. BRIA is sister project of ASEAN Sustainable Agrofood Systems in promoting sustainable rice technology and production in countries in Asia.
“I feel the farmers’ tiredness. I want to thank the rice farmers for cultivating rice for us,” says Thirapat Bunsang, 10.
In the video the students show their most appreciations to the farmers in producing the stable food for the nation and stress the importance of not wasting food. Some urge the viewers not to waste the natural resources so the farmers have ample and clean natural supply for growing rice.
“If I am a farmer, I want to tell everyone to finish your rice because rice cultivation is very difficult,” says Yanin Khuntho, 9.
This three-minute-long-video contains eight short clips of the young Thais. The video is produced in Thai and an English transcription of the young Thai voices can be read below.
Pichaya Wongnarin, 14 years old
“My grandparents are rice farmers in Nakhonsawan province. Since I was a small boy, I have seen them working in the rice field and come to realise how hard it is to be farmers. For rice cultivation, it needs good quality seeds. Farmers need to plough the field and grow their rice with care. Then farmers have to wait until their rice turns into yellow before they can reap and deliver their rice to rice mills.”
Thanyapisit Jaisamer, 13 years old
“You all know that rice farmers are our country’s backbone. You should try planting your own rice so you know how very hard it is to get just one rice grain. Rice cultivation is not just cultivating rice but it cultivates life of our next generation.”
Narawin wechapanit, 10 years old
“Rice farmer is one of the most important occupations in Thailand. If we do not have the farmers who grow and feed us their rice, we will not have rice to eat today. So, we all Thais have to appreciate what farmers have done for us.”
Panaporn Nuandokrak, 14 years old
“Do you know how hard farmers work to plants rice for you to eat? They have to sow and transplant seeds, take care of the rice, put the fertilisers and then reap the rice. For this reason, everyone should finish their rice because farmers are very tired because they produce you rice.”
Yanin Khuntho, 9 years old
“If I am a farmer, I want to tell everyone to finish your rice because rice cultivation is very difficult.”
Chayapa Suksawat, 11 years old
“If I am a farmer, I want to tell every Thai to preserve our natural resources. Stop the deforestation so we could have regular rain and farmers can enough water supplies to grow their rice.”
Phen-eg Khuntho, 11 years old
“If I am a farmer, I want to grow rice and feed rice to the whole Thai population. I want them to be happy and healthy from consuming my rice.”
Thirapat Bunsang, 10 years old
“I feel the farmers’ tiredness. I want to thank the rice farmers for cultivating rice for us.”
By Thitirat Uraisin and Rojana Manowalailao, ASEAN Sustainable Agrofood Systems