Fruit Production and Distribution: Risks of Beautification and ... - RCSD

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Chingchai Methaphat 6and three sons. He works in the orchard in the morning and early afternoon and therest of the day is his spare time; he also gets extra jobs in temporary construction orany kinds of requested job from local schoolteachers or friends. He and his wife get6,000 baht a month. But they often gain extra incomes from taking temporary jobs inthe community.Similarly, Lan, 45, and his wife, a couple from a northeastern province,together with his brother, have been working in a 70-rai orchard for a Bangkokianbusinessman for more than two decades. He was employed in different orchardsbefore being employed by his present boss. His boss will visit him once in a whileand come to harvest the fruit to sell in Bangkok market. Whenever he wants to buyfertilizers or chemicals, he gets them from his boss’s friend’s shop. Usually, Lan andhis wife work in the orchard in the early morning until 2:00 or 3:00 pm; then, he goesto catch fish for sell and consume in his family. He is very good at fishing. He cancatch as much as 80 kilograms of fish. Besides working in his boss’s orchard, he alsorents a five-rai orchard from a neighbor to produce durian and rambutan. He bought anew pick-up truck on installments a few years ago. However, some villagers gossipedthat he steals from his boss to become richer.His boss wants him to use bio-substances instead of pesticides because theyare harmful to him and family. His boss bought many magazines and books for him toread about organic agriculture, bought a PH-measure device for both soil and water,and taught him how to evaluate the soil and water conditions.Uncle Tia and Aunt Po, another couple from a northeastern province, hadworked for an absentee-employer for many years, but later their employer could notpay their wages so that they rented the orchard from him. Uncle Tia told me that sincehis employer owed him, he could not help but had to rent the orchard to take risk infruit production.Phong and his wife are lucky. After working for an absentee-employer formany years, they are rewarded for taking good care of the orchard by being allowedto produce the fruits without paying rental fee. They produce mangosteen, rambutan,and salak and gain income of hundreds of thousands each year. Their trees arebeautiful and fruitful. But they use very strong and expensive pesticides, especially to
Chingchai Methaphat 7produce mangkhut piu man, glossy-skinned mangosteens. Their mangosteens arequalified for export.Those who work for present-employers – such as Uncle Man, Uncle Yung,and Phi Su, have different degrees of freedom in getting extra income. Uncle Man andhis wife, a northeastern couple, have been working in their employer’s orchard fornearly 30 years. With 6,000 baht of monthly wage for both of them, they can havesometimes in each day to take care of their own five rai orchard, which they recentlybought from a neighbor. He told me that he could earn extra income from sellingvegetables, and his jackfruit was also productive. Previously, he earned ninetythousands from the fruit. They wanted to quit from working in their boss’ orchardwhen their only son graduated in the computer engineering, but their boss asked themto continue caring for his orchard. He told me that in Ban Noen Durian context, heand his wife are only orchard’s employees (luk chang or khon suan), but in hishometown, they are thoa kae, entrepreneurs, who have a lot of land and cattle andmoney for lending his neighbors. Their wealth resulted from working hard and savingfor many years. Regarding chemical risk, Uncle Man told me that, although he andhis wife have worked with chemicals for decades, they are still healthy because “wefollow the instructions on the label and wear protective devices,” Uncle Man said.By contrast, Uncle Yung and Phi Doung, a couple from the northeasternprovince, who migrated to eastern region when they were children, are relatively poorand trying to make ends meet. Since Phi Doung followed her parents to seekemployment when she was a child, she did not go to school and could neither read norwrite. But her husband, with primary education, can read. Uncle Nan, a localpolitician and their employer, told me that he hired the couple just mainly forspraying pesticides. I observed Uncle Yung and Phi Doung sprayed pesticides threetimes. Their employer mixed chemical solution for them, and Uncle Yung sprayed thechemicals while Phi Doung held the hose. Their 12 years old daughter and sevenyears old granddaughter, being absent from school, followed them while they werespraying the chemicals. Phi Doung often reminded the girls to be in the car and notcome out to climb the trees. But their granddaughter often jumped out from the car toclimb durian trees and played along with them. The truck windows stayed opened, sothe chemical droplets entered. After spraying pesticides, they went to fish and rest.
Page 1: Fruit Production and Distribution:R
Page 8 and 9: Chingchai Methaphat 8Besides the mo
Page 10 and 11: Chingchai Methaphat 10respects, is
Page 12 and 13: Chingchai Methaphat 12He did not wa
Page 14 and 15: Chingchai Methaphat 14Why do they p
Page 16 and 17: Chingchai Methaphat 16instance, San
Page 18 and 19: Chingchai Methaphat 18biorepellents
Page 20 and 21: Chingchai Methaphat 20short. For in
Page 22 and 23: Chingchai Methaphat 22interesting t
Page 24 and 25: Chingchai Methaphat 24I don’t kno
Page 26 and 27: Chingchai Methaphat 26(mother). 12
Page 28 and 29: Chingchai Methaphat 28that the scal
Page 30 and 31: Chingchai Methaphat 30Before harves
Page 32 and 33: Chingchai Methaphat 32season, trade
Page 34 and 35: Chingchai Methaphat 34told me that
Page 36 and 37: Chingchai Methaphat 36neighbors bec
Page 38 and 39: Chingchai Methaphat 38spray for flo
Page 40: Chingchai Methaphat 40beautiful flo

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