About 51% of the total population of Thailand live from farming.

The average yearly income of this half of the population is 1:13 compared to the rest of the population.
In other words: Thai farmers earn only 1/13th of the Thai national average or only 8% of the average income of the other half of the population.

While Thai farmers do not go hungry, often they have very limited opportunity for secondary education for their children and very often are heavily in dept.

Some years ago some groups of farmers and concerned community members discussed possible remedies and came to the same conclusion: Let's go back to our traditional agriculture where we do not rely on costly external inputs and do not go into debt because we can not repay the inputs after a bad harvest. So on their way towards organic agriculture they applied traditional agricultural practices eliminating artificial fertilizer and chemical pest control.

In North Eastern Thailand you find almost no large scale irrigation. 
The only source of water for agricutlture is rain. 
This results in generally one crop only per year. 
While this makes the farmers income far lower than from the three annual crops in the central plains it is a big advantage for the practice of organic agriculture. 
The fields have time to rest  between farming cycles. 
The soil stays healthy and does not accumulate pests, fungi and other problems that farmers face in areas that allow three multiple crops per year.
Accordingly going back to traditional methods was relatively easy technically but resulted in even lower yields than "normal". 
The lower income was financially balanced to some extend by lower input cost.

With the additional know how that poured in over the last 3 years and diligent application oforganic farming principles the aromatic intensity of the rice improved much, the yield per surface and milling yields improved also.

The FTS Network farmers usually grow Aromatic Jasmin Rice (Hom Mali for sale and Sticky Rice for their own consumption. For years they were dreaming of certified organic agriculture but did not succeed on their own.

In our cooperation they now have the chance to harvest more of better qualities and recieve an organic premium on top. This is improving the financial situation of may families more and more.