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Box 5: Methods of Karen Pest and Weed Control and Use of Local Agricultural
Techniques.
The Karen have an indigenous organic method of pest and weed control using manual labour,
site selection and herbal solutions. The selection of cultivable ground and burning are related
to pest and weed control. Old-age bamboo groves with foliage cover minimise lalang grass
infestation after planting. This type of bamboo forest also has loamy soil, encouraging the rice
to multiply into clumps easily. Rice seedlings are spaced so that the rice stalks block sunlight
and snatch nutritious elements from other weeds, deterring growth of lalang grass. If the soil
is too rich in nitrates after burning, the rice stalks become too lush and leafy resulting in small
and shrivelled paddy ears. The Karen resolve this problem by separating the rice plant
clumps.
One organic herbal plant pest control is the bark of the Pterocarpus tree soaked in water and
poured or spread on the top part of the plot to allow the solution to seep into the rice stalks
and leaves to discourage insect infestation.
Source: Santasombat, Yos. (2003) Biodiversity Local Knowledge and Sustainable Development. Regional
Centre for Social Science and Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai University.
Apart from rotational agriculture fields, village common lands include animal grazing areas,
watershed reserved area, and forest area for hunting and gathering of forest products such as
herbs for medicines and spices for cooking. During the festival the villagers of Baan Mae Ka
Pu showed us numerous medicinal plants in the forest, herbs for cooking such as cinnamon,
which is cut from the bark of only one side of the tree such that it survives, and other
conservation practices which are integrated into custom and ritual in the forest. One such
practice is whereby, when a Karen baby is born and the umbilical cord is cut, it is then placed
in a bamboo basket and attached to a tree. The child then must care for the tree for his or her
entire lifetime, and no one in the village may cut it down. Similarly, when a villager dies, a
tall tree is chosen to be their resting place such that their spirit can climb up high and watch
over the village (Chaitap, Varaluk. Pers. Comm., 26 th March 2005). There are designated
forest areas for such rituals and activities and these are upheld with customary laws and
protections. These are discussed in Section 4.3 and an example is presented in Table 7.
In terms of genetic resources, the local communities act as custodians of a vast variety of
different plant varieties. They rely on a supply of them for food and medicines and thus
recognise the importance of conserving them. Furthermore the local communities of this area
typically save, exchange and adapt varieties to different environmental conditions. Natural
mutation and breeding develops new varieties and actively contributes to a broader gene pool
(Santasombat, Yot, Pers. Comm., 17 th May 2005). Over 65 herbs, spices, seeds, or local plant
cuttings utilised by the villagers of Baan Mae Ka Pu for food or medicines were displayed at
one meeting of the festival. These were in addition to the main staple rice crops and
vegetables. Yet the village has a population of only 978 in 205 households (Northern
Development Foundation, 2005).
The villagers do not necessarily document their knowledge and resources, although there is an
increasing trend to do so due to outside influences. The local knowledge of the villagers is
highly adaptive and evolves with the changing environment, with seasonal and yearly
variations in climate, with adaptations of new or introduced species. Such knowledge is
highly situated in local conditions, and involved in local rituals, practice and customs. To
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