The ‘Rice Art,’ which occupies an area of 10 rai depicts farmers wearing straw hats and using sickles to harvest rice to reflect the traditions and way of life of rice farmers. The field was planted with two varieties of organic rice by local community together with Greenpeace supporters, volunteers and activists. The first variety, Chai-nat 1, is an irrigated local rice variety and the second is Khum Phayao, a traditional black rice variety.
“Aside from being the leader in rice farming, Thailand has perhaps the richest rice heritage in the world. Greenpeace believes that Thailand, by protecting its valuable rice heritage, can become the leader in sustainable rice farming. The best way to do this is to safeguard our rice against risky ‘technologies’ like genetic engineering, and point the way toward productive and ecological farming methods that are not dependent on harmful chemical inputs,” said Natwipha Ewasakul, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Sustainable Agriculture Campaigner.
Greenpeace is demanding that the Government issue and outright ban on GMOs (genetically modified organisms), particularly GMO rice. GMOs have never been proven safe for human consumption, threaten farmer’s livelihoods and pose irreversible risks to the environment. By reducing diversity and driving monoculture production, they add to the risks to rice production presented by global warming (1).
Thailand is among the top rice producers in the world. Last January in a prelude to the rice art planting, Greenpeace presented the Guinness World Record certifying Thailand as the largest exporter of rice in the world to generate greater pride about Thai rice and raise people’s awareness on the need to protect it from the dangers of GMOs.
Greenpeace says that the unveiling of the ‘Rice Art’ today in Ratchaburi province in Thailand’s Central Plains—one of the world’s most fertile rice producing regions—also comes at very crucial time for rice production in Thailand and in Southeast Asia as a whole.
In a press conference in Bangkok last Friday to launch the Tcktcktck campaign in Asia-Pacific (2), an international alliance of civil society groups calling for global action on climate change, campaign spokesperson Dinah Fuentesfina stated that “Southeast Asia is the world’s leading agricultural producer—but at the same time the most vulnerable to climate change-induced disasters.” Tcktcktck, of which Greenpeace is a member, is asking world leaders to enact an ambitious and equitable climate change treaty in the UN meeting in Copenhagen in December to ensure the future of the region.
An Asian Development Bank (ADB) study released last April (3) revealed that if global action is not taken, climate change will cause a trend toward decreasing rice production in countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, with potential average yield declines of up to 50% by 2100 compared to 1990 levels.
“Seventy percent of the world's extreme poverty is found in agricultural areas where farmers depend on rain for their harvests, where too much or too little rain spell disaster. The world must recognize that agriculture is a sector that is particularly vulnerable to climate change, thus governments must ensure adaptation strategies based on sustainable agricultural techniques,” said Fuentesfina.
“This ‘Rice Art’ is therefore a visual call and a reminder the government that rice is under threat and must be protected on all fronts. Through this momentous collaborative work with communities, farmer groups and volunteers, Greenpeace is pointing the way toward a future of food security through ecological farming and climate solutions that will safeguard the future of generations to come,” concluded Ewasakul.
Greenpeace campaigns for GMO-free crop and food production grounded on the principles of sustainability, protection of biodiversity, and providing all people access to safe and nutritious food. Genetic-engineering is an unnecessary and unwanted technology that contaminates the environment, threatens biodiversity, and poses unacceptable risks to health.
