Sustainable Utilization and Creation of Added Value from the Ecological Diversity of the Songkham River Basin with the Wisdom and Knowledge of Agricultural Communities in Akat Amnuai District Sakon Nakhon Province Research article

Abstract

     This study aims to investigate: 1) the community context in Songkham river basin; 2) the use of local wisdom and community knowledge to utilize and create value added from ecological diversity; and 3) to determine the featured community products raised from the wisdom and knowledge creating value added for further commercialization. The group samples were consisted of knowledgeable people in community to represent as the purposive sampling with 29 people. Date were collected through exploration, participatory observation, non-participatory observation, structured interview, and semistructured interview. The results of the study revealed that the community context was the flat plain with 2 main rivers: Yam, a small river flowing from Phu Phan mountain, and Songkham, a rather big river flowing from Phu Pha Lek mountain. There were 4 ethnic groups: Tai Yoi, Lao, Yor and Phu Tai. Mostly, people were farmers and their additional occupations included cattle rearing, local weaving and fish aquatic animal catching. The featured wisdom and body of knowledge in 3 villages (Tha Lae Dong Pla Pak, Tha Khwai, and Tha Khon) were weaving, preservation of food from aquatic animals and mat weaving. Additionally, the featured products generating their incomes to the communities were cloth weaving, indigo dyed fabric and natural dyed fabric, shawl, scarf, bag and other decorations.