The landscape transformed into orchards (courtesy of Nami Katsuragi).
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High in the northern mountains of Thailand, I visited villages where the Hmong people, an ethnic minority who fled during the Laotian Civil War in the 1960s. They have been striving to rebuild their lives. In mid-August, I traveled there as a committee member overseeing projects supported by the Green Fund.
The Green Fund, run by the National Land Afforestation Promotion Organization, is a privately managed initiative that finances afforestation and community development projects in Japan and abroad.
The Cost of GM Crops
We were guided by Mr Teruo Saeki (80), head of Shanti Yamaguchi, an NGO that successfully applied for support under the Green Fund's international cooperation program.
As our truck bounced along, we saw cornfields everywhere in the villages. Since the mid-2000s, Western biotech companies have sold genetically modified (GM) corn seeds in bulk. Bundled with them were powerful herbicides, which killed everything except GM corn. They also included fertilizers, without which the GM crops would not bear fruit.
For impoverished farmers, it was a tempting "profitable deal." Forests were cut down to secure farmland, leaving behind barren slopes. By the third year, however, the corn quality had deteriorated so badly that much could no longer be shipped. Heavy rains washed away the topsoil, draining the land of fertility, while health problems such as headaches and breathing difficulties began to spread.
A Precedent for Sustainable Change
Villagers feared they would lose drinking water and their farmland would collapse entirely. After repeated discussions, they reached a consensus: the only way forward was to transition to sustainable fruit cultivation.
Seeing this, Mr Saeki established an agricultural center to experiment and discover fruit trees suited to the land, such as mango and longan. He cultivated seedlings and distributed them to villagers. As a result, about 80% of the households in villages he worked with shifted from GM corn to fruit tree cultivation. It was the Green Fund's first venture into fruit farming. Despite initial debate, the courageous choice created a precedent worthy of admiration.
Supporting the Hmong People
Alongside the switch to fruit trees, Saeki and Shanti Yamaguchi have carried out broader projects to help the Hmong people achieve independence and preserve their traditional culture. These include:
- A Payao scholarship program to support students.
- Operation of the Shanti Student Dormitory, which I also visited. There, 29 students from junior high through high school live communally in a self-sufficient lifestyle while attending school.
- Support for women's groups who earn income by embroidering traditional ethnic costumes.
- Introduction of eco-toilets and gas generators, with the methane gas used for cooking school lunches at the village kindergarten.
These initiatives not only improve daily life but also give the next generation of Hmong children a chance at a more sustainable future.
A Channel of Community Strength
In another village, Mr Saeki and the locals together constructed a water channel from a valley five kilometers away, securing household water. If outsourced to contractors, a breakdown would leave villagers helpless. But when they build it themselves, they can repair it themselves. Costs are minimal, and the work itself strengthens the bonds of the community. Hearing this left a deep impression on me.
Emperor Showa wrote in both the Imperial Rescript declaring war and the Imperial Rescript ending the war of "sharing in the joy of universal prosperity." Perhaps this is what he meant. In August, the 100th year of the Showa era and the 80th anniversary of the war's end, I was deeply moved to encounter, in a foreign land, a Japanese person embodying His Majesty's spirit.
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Author: Nami Katsuragi
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