“From sweat of hard work to a drop of organic sugar, becoming the safe ingredient for many households.”
This is the true story coming from Pleanyodtarn after knowing it for a year. I, as
a consumer and a person who has direct experience in sugar production would like to share this worth telling story to everyone.
The journey started few months ago when I saw the Facebook event from Pleanyodtarn which invited people to take site visit at their field. Without any second thought, I registered to their event. On the actual day, surprisingly there were many people from different backgrounds ranging from chef, hotel owner, retailer, teacher up to PhD students who gathered together to find out about the
connecting dot of the Sugar Maker. Throughout this story, I will not be going into details regarding sugar production because I want everyone to come experience it on your own.
Having been introduced by Siriwan and Akkarachai, the two community leaders who turned their back to the use of chemical who navigated us to Takian Subdistrict, Samutsongkram Province where we discovered the life of sugar plantation. We had opportunities to exchange and learn different dimensions about sugar including the declination of original sugar production that led to
the economic downturn in the community. New generations migrated to work in Bangkok because they realized that producing sugar somewhat very exhausting. This can be told through the record of Granpa Jit and Granpa Lek, the 70 years old locals who have witnessed every connecting dot until Pleanyodtarn has turned this original sugar production into live again. It can be considered that
Pleanyodtarn is the organic sugar producer. Their production is based on the traditional wisdom. This is to also create a community ecosystem that people should know how to eat, live and consume in a self-respect manner as well as respecting the nature.
The sugar made by Pleanyodtarn is not only proclaimed to be the clean
and organic sugar, but it is also the connecting dot for every network to collaboratively work together. This includes the community enterprise where people can trade and at times becoming the learning center that can be a useful and the least-natural-disrupting model for the Thai food sourcing. In addition, the learning center also acts as a pest community management
center. It is the Bracon cultivar which will be used in order to get rid of black worms, pests of coconuts without using any chemicals.
At the end of the day, I believe that my job is not to tell you how good the sugar of Pleanyodtarn is because I would like everyone to have direct experience in trying this safe sweetness on your own.I am aware that the taste of food can be experienced differently due to the matter of individual’s preference, but the matter of safe ingredient is commonly known as a heart of every farmer.
Author
Nattaporn Pinpech
Creative / Story teller
Interviewee
Siriwan Prawatroi
Pleanyodtarn