By Alessandro De Nittis
Alessandro is a student on our MA Intercultural Communication and International Development course.
Struggle to survive
The Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet, is infamously known for its poppy cultivation. Following China’s ban on opium production in the 1950s, this region became one of the largest manufacturers in the world. Mount Doi Tung of Northern Thailand is now home to roughly 11,000 residents from six hill tribes who were deeply affected by this change. Although already accustomed to small-scale poppy cultivation, the void left by China made these ethnic minorities easy prey for opium drug lords: they lived in remote places and struggled to access food, healthcare and education. Moreover, some tribes also lacked citizenship and governmental protection.
As their villages fell within national park borders, long-term, high-quality sustainable cultivation was discouraged. Opium production was the only feasible option for their survival, as it was easy to grow and always in demand. Understanding the history of these tribes, closely intertwined with drug production, made me rethink how the struggle for food security can drive people towards unsustainable and illicit practices, and how sustainable livelihoods approaches can help.
Road to sustainability
National plans to rehabilitate the area began in the 1960s. Unsurprisingly, early crop replacement programmes were not successful: why should farmers jeopardise proving food for their family to please the government, especially if considered second-class or problematic citizens?
The ongoing Doi Tung Development Project (DTDP), which began in 1988, tried a new approach called ‘Sustainable Alternative Livelihood Development’. This approach relies on the principles outlined by the Sustainable Livelihoods Guidance Sheets (1999) of the British Department for International Development. In the Guidance Sheets, development is envisioned in a multi-dimensional model that takes into account its societal, environmental, economic and institutional aspects. As a machine cannot function properly if its parts run at a different speed, singling out development issues may lead to further problems.
Sustainable livelihoods approaches are centred around people’s participation but also, as Mazibuko adds, ‘their strategies, environments and abilities to adapt’. This helps to frame abstract concepts such as poverty and food insecurity as dynamic entities with real impacts on people’s lives. While best suited to rural and agricultural settings (Sayer and Campbell, 2004, p. 39), their focus on a community’ strengths provides a flexible approach to rooted issues.
In the Doi Tung case, the project didn’t frame opium production as a drug issue but as a development one, which I credit as its turning point. From a sustainable livelihoods perspective, the project focused on food security, healthcare, infrastructure and education, while promoting cooperation through community-building practices. Only then, legal alternatives to opium were negotiated, giving villages years to prepare for the change.
An international outlook
After more than 30 years, the DTDP showed phenomenal results: opium production in Thailand drastically decreased. But more importantly, the residents of Doi Tung became self-sufficient through coffee and macadamia nut cultivation, artisanship and eco-tourism. This was achieved by establishing local training centres dedicated to agriculture, handicrafts, and small-scale cottage industries and by forming lasting collaborations with national and internationals partners to improve general living conditions. Nowadays, their coffee is sold in cafés across Thailand and Japan while woven and ceramic products can be found at IKEA.
I believe that this project was successful because it did not focus exclusively on drugs but it looked at the bigger picture: opium production was the symptom of years of marginalisation, food scarcity and lack of transport infrastructure. Its success proves that sustainable livelihoods approaches can be effective strategies in fighting food insecurity, which helped me understand that although contemporary issues can be tackled in diverse ways, participation and contextualisation are crucial.
Nowadays, the Doi Tung program is highly regarded by the UNODC and has already expanded to Myanmar, Afghanistan and Indonesia – with Colombia also eyeing the project.
References
Sayer, J. and Campbell, B., (2004). The Science of Sustainable Development: Local Livelihoods and the Global Environments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
