Rice varieties’ changes in the middle part of the Chi watershed and farmers’ interests on local rice varieties conservation : A case study in Keang Sub-district, Mahasarakham Province

Abstract

Conservation and restoration of local rice varieties are mechanism to maintain genetic resourcebase which is so valuable to food security and increasing agro-biodiversity as well as decreasing risks fromclimatic or hydrological uncertainty. Restoration of local rice varieties has been interested by farmers inresource-limited areas, but the use of these local varieties is not recognized among farmers in resource rich areasincluding the middle path of Chi Watershed with well-irrigation facility. In the case study with 30 farm households ofKeang subdistrict, Mahasarakham Province, genetic erosion is generally occurred. There are only a few improvedrice varieties planting in the farm namely RD. 6 and Khao Dok Mali 105, whereas there were approximately 20 localrice varieties dominating in this community in the past. However, some of those species are still planted in thenortheastern region, such as locally called Hom Udom, San Patong, Nang Nguan, and Keetom. This is related to thegovernment promotion and market-driven. The study found that there are only seventeen percent of the surveyedfarmers who are interested to plant local rice varieties because of reducing cost of fertilizers and many agriculturalinputs and easy maintenance, as well as of interests on genetic conservation. On the other hand, most farmers stillare not interested in using local varieties because of disincentives on market price and facility. In addition, theimprovement of water management system offers homogeneity of cropping system, so it would be inconvenient touse diverse varieties which need water supply and maintenance in different periods. However, the climatic risk andfluctuation of market price as well as the rapid growing of green markets at the global level are opportunities topromote local rice varieties for achieving plant genetic conservation and food security.