.3.2 Farmers’ Meeting and Study Tour (Cross-Visit)
Farmers’ meetings were held in the selected villages to discuss the objectives, principles,
and procedures of the project. The detrimental effect of soil erosion was pointed out, and some
solutions were presented. In addition, the improvement of soil fertility by using green manures or
chemical fertilizers was also discussed. The farmers then discussed and decided for themselves
whether or not they wanted to participate in the project. In case farmers were not interested, the
project would look for other sites.
Farmers who wanted to participate in the project were invited to join the study tour to
observe the demonstration plots on soil erosion control methods as described above. After this,
farmers from the new site visited an “older” site, either Sapphongphot village, in Nakhon
Ratchasima province, or the farmer group of Khong Ruam village, Sra Kaew province. Farmers in
both these sites had already adopted the vetiver grass contour hedgerow system. This was an
opportunity to exchange experiences between the visitors and the hosts. The concepts of establishing
a village credit fund and the administration of this fund were also discussed.