S O M E M E I H O D O L O G I C A L F E A T U R E S A N D R E ' E N I

A D V E N C E S I N T H E T H A I - F R E N C H F A R M I N G S Y S T E M S

R E S E A R C H P R O J E C T C A R R I E D O U T I N T H E S O N G K H T A L A K E B A S I N

S O U T H E R N T H A I t A N D

P:'asert Chitaponq and Yves crozat'

SUIT'iARY

The song::hla L...::c Sasin is the largest. rice producing

area in Southern ]'haj.lenrl. Fanners in .Lhe area ciepend primarily

ot. rrce cultivation lor t;rci.r incone. The secondary sources of

rncomcr 3re fisheries ani .i.rvestocii ra-s,ng. In some areas of Ehe

basin such as Satnino l:r:'a and R"1ncE, the production and processing

or sugar fron Dai.:: irees ( Forassus flabellifer) is the nrajor

alternativv sourcs:: of i-r'rcone. The aErar.ian system in these

particular ateas needs inrfiovenent clue to unbalances recently

erising in rice baseci c:.-.pping system and to the :neffectj.ve methods

of sugar paLtn producti.on and processing. Prince of Songkla'Univer-

sit-v, with the assistoncc from French Sovernment, j.nitiated the faninq

Ey3tem rese.lrch pr.c:ieci ir. the jaihinq Phra area in 1982. since

trien to the end of 1i83' the probiems j.n the area have been diagnosed

and the area as rvell as the e:{isting farming systema have ijeen

classifiei into I agro-ecologicai units and 3 !ype,.j of farming

systems. The y:obLe::r:i a::c mainly concerned with the constrainls

.f the rice-basecl c:oppillg systen and pa-lm sugar Processing. The

main Droblemd of the crot)Ding sysleins are .:ecl'ining soil fertil icy,

wiLd rice inf€statioil ' soil prep.3;.ation, and inPlantation techniques.

For suqar processinq, the use of furnace with low heat efficiency

and the presert'.1tion of fresh sap a:e the major l i-rnitations. Methods

' :lcad, Depa-:t;nent of PLant Science and Aronomist,

respectivelv, coor:dinators of the thai-irench Farring System Reselrch

Project-' Faculty of Natural Resourcos ' Prince 'of Songkla university'

Hat Yai i sonqkhle 901 10.

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t! overcone thesc cons; er-aints havc been proposed and implemented

since January 1944. :?ccent advances in experimentation have

indicated that ne\r cropping p-,ttern, in which mungbeans are

grown after and bsforc rice cultivatrott, do not improve soil

fertil ity cr reducc the wild ric: problem. Thc investigatj.ons

on the effects of inethod of soil preparation on rice cultivation

arg n('r", underway. ?he pilot furnace frr :ugar evaporation has

been constructeA and investigated. ?his new furnace produces

higher heat effi-cJ-enc1, tha. the old furnace. The use of sodiun

benzoate and po',-assiruii neta bisul,fite shows promising results

for the oreservation of fresh sao alr !rel1 as for sugar quality.

The features of nethodology used in the diagnosis a:rd '-xperinren-

i .a t i an are d iscusseo.

BACKGROUND INFOR.:'IATIC;]

'Ihe Prince oi Songkla University, with assistances

from the French gove:::rrent., established the Thai-Prench -Farming

syslen Research Proj3ct i.n 1982 and has conducted Agricuitural

Research and Devel opmcnt in the sathini Phra area of the songkhla

Lake basin since tlre ii 'ception of the project. The basin (Figure

1 ) , c o . 1 s : s t s o f 1 . 5 n i t t i o n r a i ( 2 4 0 1 0 0 0 h a . ) o f p a d d y a n d S a t h i n g

Phr.. is one of tbe rnain r.ice producing ateas of the basin. The

:.tethods of research anci developnent $rhich have been used can be

characterized as an i::tegrated nultidisciolinary scientific

apDroach ( concepts fo'' analysis of systens anci for on-farm e:iperL-

ments) and a practical .fpproach toh'ards deveLopment ( training and

oxtension). The objeci.ives of the project are :

1 . to imrro..': the socio-econo:nic status and agricul-

tural productivit-r' 65 the area by using specific French methodo-

J.cgv for Agrarian and Farrning Syst(,ms Diagnoses (TrebuiL' 1983)

as ivell as for on-fa}1.t agrononic research. These methods have

been demonstratei to be llrell. adapted to aqricultura] development

of difficult a-reas l:r:cause chey take into account a variety of

socio-economic, a::rononic anC teciuological constraints found in

each ar :a.

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2. to ii l it iate within tie laculty of Natural Resources

prograns of i n terdiscipl inary rcsea::ch which are appLicable for

the development of the stud..' :rea as well as the trainj.ng of

staff memoers.

Thc Sathing Plrr.a .1rea was chosen as a pilot area to

achieve these objectives. Althou€rb this area is the ri.ce

granary of the Sonc,rk?r].1 La:ie basin, it j.s classified as "poor

rural." accordin(t to the Office of tho Natj-onal Economic and

social DeveLoprent Boa:i. A partj.cular problem htith this area

iras been the lack of aiopiion of ne'' technicaf packages for rice

cultivation desDitc the concerLed efforts made bv the extenaion

services .

IIIPLEMENTATION OF 'IIiE PRO'ECT

The iJroject has b3en conducted in three stages as

fo l lows i '

1. Diagmosi-s trithin the existing farming systems of

the area in ordcr Lo identify and understand the bottleneck

problems. This staqe of the study was conducted from 1982 to

1984 by a French Agro-oconor'li s t in coLlaboration with acadernic

staff from Departm.nt of Agricultural Development, 3a:ulty of

Natural Re6ources (T-rebuil et al-, 1993, 1984) and with extension

officers and farmers oi sathing Phra district.

2. ;i stage of research and exper j-mentat j.on with the

farnera to overcornc tho bottlenccj< oroblems. The main purpose

of this atage r.ras Eo inprove the efficiency and reproducibility

of rice croppinc sr,rster;ls and to perfect the harvesting and produc-

ing techniques of sug..r from paln t"o" (ry!E!3LI!!=|

(Trebui l . e t a I , 19e3' a : . 'ozat and Chi tapong, 1984) . This program

which has b6en ca}-riei out since January 1984 ha: ilvolvcd one

Long-term French ,Agro:iornist, one short-term French specialis! in

palm sular prod.ucticn.lnC ten acadenic staffs from the Faculty

of Natural. Resources.

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3. A stage for tho d i t fus ion and evaluat ion of technrcal

improvement devcloped arom stage 2. lt is anticiPated that tll is

stage ttilL com;nence in 1-'9{',. T'13 Frojcct rs expected to be conlj'nued

through the esiablishment of Tha'-French Fartling System Research

center. This center ril l io,-m the baao for collaboratlve research

prograrns between Thai alri French researchers concerned with farming

systen re6earch and develoFxnent.

FROI1 DIAGNOSIs TO TiiE D4FINITION oF liEY PROBLEMS ?O BE SOLVED

The dlagnosis Dhase consisted of identifying the

various agroecologlcal zonea, the tl/De of existing :arming systems

and recent chang3s in la,rd use in 'Jre sa':hing Phra area (Trebuil

et al , 1 983 ) . r.'he resu.Lts fron this Dhas l are useful not onJ-y

to expl.ain the natu::o of the zone and the type of farming systems

but Iso to identify the function and meUrodological strategies

necessary for the deveiopment of sathing Phra Adrarian system'

l .

o f

.sy3cems,.Fro,n the east coast to the lagoon in the west, ten

agroecologica.l zones l,rcre identified along the peninsufa (Figure 2)'

Ideatification was performed using aeriai Photographs ' soj'I mapg

and field survcys. The line-transec! sampling technique was used

in the field iurveif so that the maxi.:rum variables of human and

physical environ:ients within each zone were i-ntensj'vely inves-

r ateC (Trebuil' et aI, 1983). ?trese zones represent three

main agro-ecoaogical units. The 3alient features and agronomic

constraints of the thrco units are surmarized in Table 1'

Except for unit I, l"'hich :.epresents }ess than 5? of

the cultivateo area, .-ice-based cr-opping systems are situated on

clay-textured soils lvith .Lo!r fertil ity and poor drainage ' The

drainage proble:lis arc inmense since the area'is situated between

the sea andl che lagoons. The erretic rainfall distribution

and hrs ecoLo.tical units are the revealing elements of the

ion is not

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together with the lac)( of ccntrol of ,u'ater levels in paddy fields

due to poor draine-ge and no irrigation facili l ies are the key to

an understandi.ng of thc existing c::opping systems of sathing Phra

area (crozat - , : a l , 1995) . ?hese problems l in iE r ice cu l t ivat ion

to only one clop a yaa:' from :Ilid August to February- The limi-

tation is seriousl.y involved l.,ith tire transplanting technigues of

rice implantation (15 to 30t; of total area) because the watsr

Ievel and condi.tions suitable for transplanting prevail for only

a short tj.me ' creatinq a high manpower demand over a'short peri.od.

Therefore, farmer ianaqement strategies are primarily based or'

security techniques co avoi(l the hazatds of sudden flooding

followed by perio.f o:' drought during grain fil l ing or riPening.

These phenornena dIq. noi ultcorullon during rice cultivation !n

Sathing Phra area bccause the area experience a short rainy season

(3 to 4 nonths ) .ri.th intense rainfal l- (uP to 1300 mm). ?he follow-

j.ng management sb:a'r-e?ies illustrate the security techniques used

by farmers :

a. Dispatchinq of tho paddy in all units

b, The use o; a wide range of local rice varieties

chosen according to the ma(imun l'Jater level (20'120 cm) and the

duration of flooding c:iDected in the paddy.

c. tsroadcasting dry-seeded rice after a singl€ ploughing

under dry conditicns. This should be done early in the season

before sudden submersion,

d. Thj.nning out areas lrthere the rice popu.Latj'on is

dense and transplantinli into sparsely poPulated areas in the same

plot in orde!' to palliate problerns of space emergence of dry-

seeded rice.

The ea',:licsc plcughing and bloadcasti'ng occurs in the

lower paddies o; units fII and If lthere a audden flc:'ding ean be

expected. In unit fl l, seed;f,ed guality has a major influence on

rice yields because:t di.rectly affects the plant population and

weed growth. :{eeds are saldom a serious problem here as flooding

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occurs ear ly . in contrast ' in uni t f I , f loodinc usual ly occurs

later an: earl-r, inte ni.ttant rain e.iio'n s the dryinq of the f ields

and h igh weed ! : . fcstat ion tc occur , es:cc ia l ly \ ' , i ld r ice (oryza

per..,nnis). Therefore ' the qualitv oi land preParation and weed

controf are majo:: dete::ninailts of rice yields in unit II ' com-

plete control of wild r-ice by hand-::eeding requiree about 150

man-day,/ha. In fact, Lhis hioh }aboT reguirement and ecological

constraints restrict .no:t typos of farming aystens to only partial

v/eed cont:ol (Trebuil et aI, 1984). ?his partial weed control

reduces fertil izer usagc because the farmer often use less amount

of fertil izer if the field receives less intenaity of t'eed control'

However, chemicat fci'ti i izers atrc not c:rntnonly used regardLess of

the intensity of l.]ee,i co::trol . conseguently, soil fertil ity

becomes another major constraint because chemical fertil izers are

presently the only opti.on to naintain soil fertil ity. fn addition,

the recent decrease j"n Livestock numbers together hrith the

development of home cardens, nor'J the main area "'here animal manure

is used, has led !o the end in the use of manure fertil izer in

oadci ieg.

2. Problcms to solve are different according to the

tvDe of farrninq avsten.

From an understanding of the socio-economj'c strategies

and the capabilities of farmers to utilize existing resources

rieterrnined in the dia€nosis phase, the existing farming syterns were

class i f ied as type ArB and C (Trebui l r 1984) . The main charac-

teristica of each type of farming system are summarized in Table 2.

It would appear that not all the rice growing strategies and

techniguea anenable to the region are utilized uniformly by the

farmer6. The di',/ersit:/ of techniques used for plot situated in

tnc same araa demonstfates the constraints of individual socio-

econonic strategies.

- Pot farmers of tl'pe E and Cr whose incone dependg

nainly on rice, the Froblens to be overcottre ai'e larqely associated

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with the availabj.li ':y . i nanpor,,/er. The :ecent chanqe caused bydemooraphic qror.;ti1 (neiriy 400 inhabitants per square kllom€ter)as welL as the o:-!.entatio;1 of the people in the reglon towardthe towns of Sonqlihla an,i Hat yai lnay eventual.ly endanger thepresent rice-bascrr agt:icuLturaL syste of the gathing phra area.In addi.tion, the pi-oc.ressive aba:ldonjrent of trad-itional draughtploughing has reiuced tlle .Tlount of orqanic manure available andstopped its usc. on paddies as wel-l as the small anount of chemicalfer t i . l i .zer present l \ : used as c1 subst i tu te in r ice f ie lds can notarrest t.le decj-inc :n soj.I fertiti iy. The use of Eractor toreplace animal porr'er often :esults in low quality soiJ. prepara_

ti.on which potenti-tes the Droblern of rice fi.:lci becominq infestedw i t h w i l d r i c e .

On the other he.nd, the f a:r.:rerg of lype A and some ofthose in type F earn most of their income from .lcttvrties otherthan growi:rc rj.c,r, in parrtj calar fron tha extractlcn of sugar

from sugar paln tlees. T.re r.,roblems of these farmer, who o-nlyown small plots ( approyi;:a.-e1y 0.5 ha of cultivated land), arenainly the irrei ularit] ' of production and the poor guality oisugar produced. ?hese D:.-oblens are exacerbaled by th.r increasingcost of fuel for. the !-ur-naces used in the evaporation of Dalm sap.

FRO;{ THE KEY PROBLEI'IS TO T:iE ELTTEORATION OF ?ECHNICAL I?INERARIES

SUITABLS FO: EACii'IYPE OF P;\RI..I AND ]COLOGICAL UNIT

h 198,1, a crorp.l.lg system research progran was initiated

rn an attempt to overco:ne the inter.refaled proble.Ts of soil.

structure, wilo r:ce cotrtrol and chenical fertil ity in rj,ce

cultivation. The qenaraj- nethodolonv and the program used in

this croppj.ng systen have bcen reported by Crozat a|ld Chitapong( 1 9 8 4 ) .

The target area -_s aj.nly unit II paddie6, especially

d:yseeded -cultivation

a:ea as c,hey rcpresent tlie najority ofpaddies with the laigest var:iation in yietd (500-3,600 kglha in

1982 ) .

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Tarqet farmers are those belonging to farmj.ng system

type B (0.5 to 0.8 ha oer economj.c active person) and typ€ C (more

than 0.8 ha per economj.c actj.ve person) because rice is their

principal income. For type A fa::ners (approximately 50t of house-

holds), and improvenent in farming system efficiency requires

specific research on the processing of palm sugar. Thj-s is because

most of the farnily worl<fcrce in this type of farming systen is

engaged in thj.s activity, mal<ing rice cultivation difficult or

often onl.y of secondary importance.

Research is now underway coveri.ng aspects on both

cropping systern and palm sugar processing. Detaj.ls of the mechods

used and progress with aspects of the \u'ork on cropping systems

conducted during February 1984 to January 1985;have been reported

(Crozat '1985tCrozal e t a I ,1985) . The re levant resul ts for each researchprogr: n have been sunmaeized and recently used to rnake changes intha rcscarch programs.

1 . Cropping systcm aspect

Crozat and chitapong (1984) initj.ally hypothesised

that the cultivation of legume crops Iespeciallv mungbean (Vigna

radiata) I between ric€ cultivations together with the use of

technj.cal itineraries for each crop could improve soil physical

Properties for iand Drepiration, soil fertil ity and the control.

of ri ' i ld rice in Sathing Phra paddies. Experimental investigations

nere conducted during the 1984 non-rice cultivation peri.od and

the 1984-85 dry-seeded rice cultivatj.on p€riod to test this

hypothesis.

a. The 1984 non-rice cultivation period

on-fann trials coverj-ng 27 farmer flelds and

5 gesearch-managed fields i'e-,.-e caffied out to evaluate the poten-

tial for mungbean cultivation during two climatic aeasons : (i)

the dry Season .rfter rj-ce harvest ( February to May) and (ii) the

pre-rain)' season (May to August). Technical components such as

patterng of land preparation, fertil izer usage, seed inoc.rl.ation

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and weed control nere the treaLTents imoosed in both the farmer

fields and rcsearch-managed fiel<is. An eval.uation of 6 green

manure I egumes was aLso :a:-ried out dur!.ng the pre-rainy seaeon.

lhe results with regard to mangbean yielde we:.e

extremely dj.sapointino regardless of the cul.tivation technj.ques

used. During the dry season after rj.ce harvestl the grain yield

of :rI1 11 research-Fanaoed fields was lower than the seeding rate.

During the pre-rainy scason only 5 of the 22 fielcis yielded more

than 100 kglha. No harl,est was possible in 29 t of ihe fields

and wi th 17 % of the f io lds, Lhe farmers lost incorne (crozat , 1995) .

Ther:: tras up to 100 * mortality of mungbean

plants in earily f -',oodeci fields due to waterLogging. This occuffed

as much in the dr), season as in the Dre-rainy season. In other

fj.eldsr loh' rnun.rbean rrie]ds rvere attributed to periods of floodj,irg

interrupted by :r-ought. The flooding problems r\'ere aggravated

by poot' soil- drainage. These conditions seriousl.y affected th"

development of the m"ngbean planLs and there was a highly signj.-

ficant negative relationship between yield compon:nts and the

degree of uaterlogging, especially with regard to pod number( C r o z a t e t a l , 1 9 8 5 ) .

fn term of probability, waterlogging of mungbean

crops was sho$rn to occur at least once in two year, irrespective

of the plarttj.ng date used (Crozat et aI, 1985). Thus, waterlogging

is such a major constraint of the Sathing phra peninsula thatj.ntensification technigues, such as rnultiple.til lag6, fertil izer

use and weed control shoulcl irot be reconmended for mungbean except

for those fields r,rith a Lor., risk of flooding. In such fields,

mungb€an produces optirnun yield under the condition of either 5

r.reeks weed-free duration or 2 weeks wsed competition duration

af ter emergence. (Chj . tspong et aI , 1985) .

In nddition Fungbeans had no specific residual

effecEs in lerns of either resiCual nitrogen and soil organic

nateer leveLs or the yield of the follording rice crop (Crozat,

1 9 8 5 r C r o z a t e i a l , 1 9 8 5 ) .

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on ehe other hand' Sesbania rostrata and Aeschy-

nomene indica showed consiierable promise as green manure crops'

Soil incorporation of these crops contributed 130 and 40 kg N and

7.? and 1.5 tones of dry mat ter per ha, respect ive ly (Crozat ,1985) '

b. The 1984-35 dry-seeded rice cultj 'vation period'

The detailed anal'ysis of soil struclure created

by varlous til lages have sholm to affect rice emergence and growth

as well as weed ini:estation (erozat et al, ' l 985). These anal'yses

included (i) effect of 'rari.ous seedbed clod sizes, number of

ploughing, and rice seeding rates on emergence' spatj'a} distribu-

tion, yield, and yield components of both rice and wj'ld rice, anci

( i i ) e f fect o f p loughing depth ( f rorn 0 or non- t i l lage to 15 cm)

on drought resistance of rice durjng grain formation (leaf water

potential, percentage of f:]:ed spikelets). Once the oPtimun

soil structure is defined, the reccomendation for til lage according

to soil type an:l fcr seeding rate relevant to wj.ld rice

competition wiII then be possible. Data from these investigations

are presently bej.n3 analYsed.

In conclusion for cropping systems, the initj 'al

hypothesis of mul tiplecropping as a mean for improving rice-based

cropping system effi.ciency and replaoducibi li ty has not been confirmed'

Although lhe rnajor conslraints of the system were identj'fied at

an early stage, at present these need to be redefined more closely.

Promising research progra,ns can be elaborated in order to propose

technical improvements for the 1985-86 rice growing seaaon. This

procegg is il lustratcd i.n Pigure 3 and can be sunmarized as fol'lows:

1.1 The ex is t ing associat ion of r ice wi th

perennial plant like suqar palm trees i3 an optimum multlple croppi'ng

aystsil, which nc.,ds co be improved.

1.2 i' l ith regard to soil fertil ity, nitrogen is

lhe primary linitj.ng factol fcr rice production, and r' ' ith clay-

textured soils. atternPts to increase organic matter content through

the groning of leguninous crops must be considered as guestionalble

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practice. The screeninq cf green xranure leguine having high

biological nitrogen .:�i),:ation under successive h'aterlogqing and

drought periocis, ti)ei:cfore, riray help improve nitrogen avaitability

wi th low cost .' .3 I ; prov ing of land preparat ion quaLi ty (e i ther

non-til l.ge or finer seedbeds ) is .-r suitable means to increas:

ei.ergence and erratj.c sp3tial distributj-on of rj.ce. l":inj.mum

t i l lage a l .so l in i ts l t i lo : : ice j -n festat ion.

'1 .4 The i.nfestation of ri.ce crops with wild rice

can be largely .1Lt::j-bui3d to large banks of wild rice seed in the

paddy soils and to the c{enetical contanination of rice seed used

for broadcasting. Fhysical conta-.i.-ation at the lime of harvest

does not appear to be.r prcblern s.ince seed of wj-ld rice drops to

the ground prior to the rice harvest and all farmers harvest

rice by the panicle to panicle nethod. The develcfnent of better

nethods for the sortino ct- rice seeds for planting and studies to

delineate the optlmum time for wil<i rice control need to be given

l r i ^ h h r i ^ - . i i ". t - Y r r P r - v 5 r L t .

1 .5 llore appropriate zonation of r:nit II accord.Lng

t-o the risk of tempo::ary flooding and eoil properties is

necess.rry b€fore attempti.ng to implement speci.fic technical

reconmendations .

2. Sugar processing aspect.

fvo r.search prograrns have been qiven prio-:ity for

1984-85. The first is concerncd with improving the effici-ency of

open pan evaporacors used to evaporate the vrater from paln sap.

The primary objective is to rcduce the cost of the fuel component

since the price of r.rood has increased substanlially and now

representa 30 ea of thc botal cost of inputs, This progran also

aims at improvinq thc sugar crystallization process. Eiqht

farmers were trained in ?etchaburi province with the result that

new furnarfces we]:c built by so:re oi then as their return. At

present, a tot;.I cf 50 hcuseholds have built new furnaces and

some of which are modifieci and investi.gated. Tests to compare the

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effici.ency (heat bal...nce) of Iocal and new €vaporators operating

under farm condition ai-e nolr in pLol|ress. Preliminary. data

indicates that, for each kilogram of fuel from palm Petiole, the

new evaporatorg can produce 2.8 lii logrratn of 65' Brix concentrate

sugar, whereas the old evaporators can only produce 1.8 kilogratns

of sugar of lhe same quality. The heat efficiency (heat used/

heat produced) fo:: the new and the old evaporators is 34.4 and 24.4

?, respectivel.y. The nel{ type of evapofator not only reduces thetime and fuel reguired for 6vap6ration, but algo ahoften the naitingtimc for fresh sap to be €vaporat€d. This reduction in line is importantin order to prevent fermentation of frash sap before bej.ng evaporated.

The objective of the second research program is

to improve thc methods used by farrners for the collection and

preservation of sugar palm sap in order to avoial spoilag€ through

ferrnentation prior to evaporation. Since fermented sap produces

low guality sugar, farmers try to delay fennentation by putting

a piece of rli.nt locaily called "kian'r (shorea !:!Ig) in to

the fresh sap. This practice, al"i.hough, is fairy effective but

its propor use is technically defficult and, therefore, alter-

native methods need to bc investigated. Studie6 conducted by

staff of the DeparEnent of Agro-industry of Faculty of Natural

Resources using sodir,r'n benzoate and potassium meta bisulfite have

shown prqniaing resuits.

It is non apparent that information on the amount

of sap produced by each household annually and on sugar marketing

organization are also a priority for further resear:h. Consequently

a survey on Bugar production was recently cott{flenced involving

fanners of types A and B, along with study on sugar marketing

organlzation.

The research on sugar processing is very encouraging

slnc€ farmers have adopted our nehr technlgues faster than

expected. ;,l ithin 3 months, 50 households have built ne!, evaporalors,

with thi problen of irregnrlar guality r.nd qlasEering,

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CONCLUDI^*G REM..IRKS

Previous consi.dsrations shor\i to which extent Farminq

system Research is a coinDlex process. The notion of standard

technical pac!<aqe or: st.rndard cropping pattern even highly efficient

on experimental fieids j.s often useless because of a lacl{ of

understanding of the e::ist-ing environmentaL and socio-economic

constraj.nts of t'a5lers. :4ost agriculturaL regions consist of a

range of agro-ecosyste!-n where al.l farrners do not have the sane

ne€ds. To different types of fams, Cifferent technical solutions

must be elaboratod according io each ag:.o-ecological. units and

farmers' socic-econornic strategies. Therefore, before on-farm

experinentsr .1 drtailed zonation and characterization of the

€nvironment as !re}l. a6 a typology of farning system are the necessary

step. once constraints are identified, target areas and target.

farmers may be chosen as a frame-vror:i for experi'lentations . This

logi.cal process .is not static but clynamic. It was shown previously

that during experirnentrtion, constraints initiall-y identified are

continuously redlr'j.ned closcr and classified by order of priority.

surprisingly, the nost relevant data was not revealed by conven-

tional experimental" designs (split-plot, RBD etc.) but from

specific designs using the existing variability found within

farmers' fields. Thesa specific (.lesigns were developed for on-farm

research by French agr:onomists (sebill.otte, 1979a; Bciffen et al.

1981 ). variability in seedbeds, plant densityr and levels of inputs

generally found within one farmer's fj-eld and between farmers'

fields were found tc coilstitute the most cotnplete experimental

aystem to stud]'. For c:{anpLe, to study the effect o: waterlogqing

on the reduction in yie.ld of nungbeans, relevant data was obtained

by compari.ng Dart of a rnungbean field where the topography resulted

in different i{aterlogging j.ntensities and duration (Figure 4a).

stat:stical methods couid also be used to compare the yield and

yield components of mungbean from each horoogenols part of the field

(Table 3). Results coul.d then be confj-rrned by considering the

- 4U ) -

variability beirtreen f ar'rners' fields (Figure 4b). Similar designs

have been used to studv the effects of clod size and depth of

ploughing on rice cstablishncnt and the ability of rice to compete

wi th wj . l .d r ice. T i - t is is of ten var iab le in the gual i ty of land

preparation even within the sane farmer's field. Such methods,

not .,. 'e1.1 kno'..n in .1sia, reguire detailed observations and measures

on both the environneni ancl the -vield elaboratj-on proeess of the

crops. It is necessan/ to establ"islt an association between the

var iabi l i ty of the facto i :s s tuc ied (e,g,water logging, s ize of

clods in the see(ibJds, olouqhing decth) to that of other envj !'cnmen-

tsl fnctors and growtli Dar.a-rneter (..q. rainfall, microtopography '

soil. porosity, :ooi: distribution) and to und€rstandi.ng thei.r

cons€quences all along the yield ela.boratj-on process. Only where

these interaclions aro undcrstood, will i.t be possible to implement

new technology r,'hich is approDriate for each kind of environmenE

( S e b i l l o t t e , 1 9 7 6 b )

ACIG\OI{LEDGEMENT

The authors e:ipress their sincere g:'atitude to the Projec!

Direclor, Dr. Sujin Jinahyon, Dean of the FacuLty of Natural

iesources for his encou:agement and permission to use the Faculty

facilities for the concluct of thi.s project. sincere appreciation

is extended to aL] :'esearch personnel involved with the project

including Mr. Guy Trebuil and l.ir. somyos Thungh?a of farming system

diagnosis aapect, I'bt. Amnuay sitticharoenchai, .:r. Rangsan Apakupa-

kuL, I,tr. Chao Yongchalermchai, I' i iss Ratana Janjaroenthan and Mr.

Charnchai saengchayoswet of cropping system aspect, and Mr.

Paj-boon Thanaratvasj.li, :.l iss Prapasri Pichi tvorapanit, l"liss

sukanya Chantachoonr i:i-s. Saor,taLuck Jitbun jerdkul ' I ' lr. Kanok

Thirawat and 1.15. Prasit Chaisiripant for their davotlon to the

project. i\ ' ithout their contribution' the information presented

in this paper r.;ould irave not been evailable., The assistance of

Dr. Johr' Milton in the preParation of this manuscript is also

appreciated. Finalllz' r're gratefuliy acl<nowledge the French Govern-

ment for proviii i i:g : s rvith a grant to carry out this project.

-405-

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