We’ve talked about the consumers and middlemen, but what’s most important is the story of the farmers. OPEN MIND PROJECT proudly presents BELIEVE, which is introduced as a warm romantic film that is not the love of a young couple, but it is the love of agriculture of the two main leads. ‘Nat’, led by Nat Kritcharit, the photographer from LOST, who returned to live in the countryside, and ‘Boon Pluke’, played by Warangkanang Wutthayakorn, a young female farmer from Nat’s childhood.
The love for agriculture in BELIEVE was interpreted and transmitted by the director Soranit Sangkamongkol as a love and conscientious to grow safe and nontoxic crops. That is farming that does not add chemicals into the Earth, water and air, as well as does not create an impact that will cause harms to the Earth and humans. The reason Nat returned home to the countryside was because his father has fallen ill as a result of the accumulated chemicals that was sprayed on the vegetables each day. This is a sad story that we often see in the newspapers, where the deaths of the farmers were caused by chemicals, both from the aerosol when sprayed or directly absorbed into the skin. Once, a traumatic news of one particular farmer was unfolded; the chemicals leaked onto his skin, seeped into the his bloodstream, and resulted in his death.
Sadly, in many areas of Thailand, farmers do not digest the vegetables that they grow, knowing that is has dangerous and accumulated chemicals.
What is the cause of all these issues?
When discussed about the cause, we must look back at ourselves. Isn’t it because the consumers choose to only eat vegetables that are aesthetic? Isn’t it because the consumers desire a variety of fruits and vegetables in every season? In the world of organic vegetables, aesthetic crops that will grow every season simply do not exist. Consumers and middlemen must understand this fact if they want safe crops. They must agree to pay a bit more for nontoxic vegetables.. and why is that? Simply because famers must bear the greater risk of damage to crops due to pests. Not using chemicals to accelerate the fruiting will result in slower production, but this slowness comes with assurance and security.
Past interactions with the farmers revealed that many of them did not dare to eat their own vegetables. However, today, after switching to organic farming, they have confidence and safety is assured. They are faultless on the crops that they’ve grown and is proud to deliver the goods to consumers. Although the price is a bit high, but the farmers are trying to find a way to cap the price so the consumers can accept. New generations of consumers implement technology to communicate directly with consumers, to circumvent the profit markup by middlemen.
‘Technology is useful if it is used well’
This is the sentence that Nat said to Boon Pluke in the OPEN MIND PROJECT series, BELIEVE. Boon Pluke is irrationally anxious about technology, whereas Nat uses technology to sell products to consumers. He persuaded other farmers in the community to see that organic products can truly be sold. Once the farmers are encouraged, they are ready to grow organic crops for us to eat safely.
No one wants to put chemicals that can hurt others indirectly, don’t you agree?
OPEN MIND PROJECT - BELIEVE
Author
Paranee Lerdwattanasombat
Independent Writer