The Struggle of Urban Farming: Case Study of Thonburi Local Farmers

Abstract

In this article, I have searched for the answers of the primary research questions which are; according to the present situation, what is the main idea of farmers’ attempt for farmland protection, and how do they adjust for preserving land, both new and old patterns in Thonburi area” . Political Ecology and Urban Agriculture are the conceptual frameworks of this research. Anthropology fieldwork is used as a method to define and understand the ideas related to the change and farmers’adaption in Phasi Charoen, Bangkae, Taling Chan, and Thawi Watthana district of Bangkok, Thailand. I was in the fieldwork and organized the data during November 2017 – August 2018. The result has shown that the agricultural sector in Thonburi area has faced the changing of farmland reduction areas as well as farm households. The reduction of farmland has obviously existed when the city has expanded to this area. However, there are some farmers who tried to protect their farming because gardening is a signature of the Thonburi area. They have changed the production pattern to suit the urban lifestyle and their needs. Moreover, they have resisted the government’s hegemony by grouping a network and build farming learning centers. Adaptation in the form of changing from chemical to agricultural to chemical-free agriculture, pushing for the integration of farmers and building agricultural learning centers, knowledge seeking in production and marketing, utilizing smaller agricultural areas arises from the needs of farmers in maintaining agriculture. In relation to the idea that agriculture is a family occupation that needs to be conserved, they are unable to do other professions better than farming, and agriculture makes them become their own boss and can do what they want. These power relations have shown that farmers have their power and use this for protecting their advantage, on the other hand, some farmers must defer to unavoidable dominance of urbanization and transformation to be a part of the city.