Resource information
This Handbook is designed for both farmers and students to use in the field and
during training. It is divided into eight sections, each one containing several
topics and all illustrated with large clear pictures. The Handbook can be read
from beginning to end or each topic can be read separately. Space is provided
for readers to take notes and to add their own local knowledge...Our people have always been farmers. Farmers of the river lands, of the
mountains, and of the forests. Due to civil war in Burma, more and more of
us have migrated from our native lands and many now live in refugee camps
along the Thai-Burmese border.
The Royal Thai Government, its citizens, and non-government organisations
have been very generous in their support to us. We have food, shelter, health
care and education, and for this we are very thankful. But while we have been
living in refugee camps we have slowly been losing our heritage, our wisdom,
and our ways. For our children, rice comes from a warehouse, not grown on
our own land by our own hands.
In 1999, I asked the organisations that were already supporting us if they
could help me look for ways to teach our children about agriculture and to
help us live more self-sufficiently. The result of this is now called the CAN
Project (Community Agriculture and Nutrition). This Handbook is the latest
step in its ongoing development over 7 years with refugees and internally
displaced people along the Thai-Burma border.
There are many good books and resources on sustainable agriculture and
we have learnt much from them. However refugees are constrained in their
agricultural practices due to limited access to land, water and other resources.
This Handbook attempts to present a summary of simple adaptations of ideas
found in other books, manuals and resources on sustainable agriculture.
This Handbook is not a textbook as such, but a compilation of different
subjects for people to pick and choose. We know that it is not complete and
I would ask anyone with ideas or suggestions to forward them so we can
keep on learning. In the year 2000 I wrote a draft CAN Handbook. Then Jacob
Thomson and I wrote the first CAN curriculum in 2001. Since then it has
been used in training with nearly 5,000 school children, teachers, villagers,
and staff of community-based and non-government organisations. Needless
to say, since the first curriculum was drafted, we have had many experiences,
learnt many lessons and made many changes.
