Pla Organic - Organic Village

Production

Organic

Location

Nakom Phantom

Team

18 Farmers

Fields

30 Acres

Type of production

8 fishes

3 Shellfish

2 Molluskus

Introduction to PLA Organic

The history of PLA Organic

PLA Organic is founded by Supaporn Anuchirachiva, PhD, Earth Net Foundation, with the intention to solve three main issues for the seafood market in Thailand, which are the problem of chemicals used in seafood products, the livelihood of small-scale fishermen and irresponsible fishing practices. PLA Organic was started by a project called, ‘Small-scale fisheries & Organic fishery products ‘ in 2013, that was funded by European Union that becomes very successful in helping fishermen and at the same time bring healthier lifestyle to people in Bangkok. Currently, PLA Organic is working with 7 local fishing organizations in 7 provinces which are Phetchaburi, Songkhla, Phatthalung, Pattani, Phang Nga, Krabi and Satun. According to Dr. Supaporn, this project started from a question that, “Most people love eating seafood, do they know where all this seafood comes from? How the small-scale fishers who have been practicing responsible fishing could have support from the seafood consumers” With this question in her mind, she wants to be able to answer to the consumer where all this seafood is coming from and at the same time, wants to help those fishermen to have a better life and a place to raise their voice in the society.

Fishery in Thailand

PLA Organic is the first organization that started to realize Thailand needs to focus more into the development of sustainable safe and organic seafood supply chain from small-scale fisheries. With a coastline with more than 2,600 kilometers and a rich ecosystem, Thailand is a perfect place for fisheries and good quality seafood products, but from the irresponsible fishing practices causing deterioration of aquatic life and ecosystems Including catching young aquatic animals to supply the huge animal feeding industry, causing the quantity of fish to decrease. Moreover, in the main-stream seafood supply chain system, chemical used to preserve and/ maintain the looks of seafood it seems to be normal and acceptable. At PLA Organic, consumers will know exactly where the products are coming from; in each of seven fishing organizations, a group of committees will collect the products from their fishing members weekly to be sent to Bangkok for consumers with the idea of helping the fishermen to have more income and a better life and also for the consumer to have a healthier life. Nowadays, more and more consumers are interested with the idea of responsible fishing, so we arrange a fishing study tour, ‘ecotourism’, in the south for people who are interested to see how the seafoods is caught and the current livelihood of the small-scale fishermen. Besides, creating a healthier lifestyle for consumer and helping local fishermen; PLA Organic has also helped local people in ecotourism to bring awareness in sustainable coastal resources management to the people in the bigger city.

Why trusting PLA Organic?

The good organic products that come with a good cause

PLA Organic intends to use the good things that the villagers already have whether it is a conservation method of fishing or the quality of fish. Therefore, PLA Organic chose to work with groups of local fishermen who are already a true conservationist in many areas. According to the founder, “We choose to work with the same closed group which has already guaranteed to use conservation methods because we cannot go down to monitor them for every shipment.”

And thinking about the people who are doing conservative or responsible fishing should benefit the most from this project. Starting from responsible fishing and the project has help with the handling process and the / post-harvest management that will be delivered to Bangkok, then lastly the products will be in the market. All the process is done by the selected local group of people and the committees to help them, with this PLA Organic has undercut the middleman who often make the most profit in the market; doing so the fishermen are getting the fair deal of whatever they caught. At the beginning, PLA Organic plans to sell organic products through leading supermarkets in Bangkok, however; was not able to do so because of the controlling issue with the whole supply in bringing fresh organic seafood to consumers and more importantly the very high fees that must be paid to the supermarkets. Since the fees should be going to the committees and fishermen directly, PLA Organic decided not to sell their products through the leading supermarkets. PLA Organic wants to create a model of how to make business fair, how to give the villagers who are producers the opportunity to own a business, set prices, and how to create a supportive food business.

The good organic products that come with a good causePla Organic tend to solve 3 main issues in Seafood products

Chemicals in seafood products
Consumer will never know… In order to keep the products as fresh as possible and to save cost for the transportation, there are many processes that require chemicals such as formaldehyde. Dr. Supaporn mentioned that in Thailand, the way of transporting fish into the big city market, especially Bangkok is very complicated, and have to go through many middlemen who is likely to make a lot more profits than the fishermen. In order to keep that seafood ready to be sold in Bangkok, they need to put a lot of chemicals to keep the seafood as fresh as possible: the process is very industrialized with bulks of seafood. Therefore, PLA Organic is intended to take care of this problem by setting up a team of committee who really care about fishermen community to help with the handling, transportation and marketing process in order for end consumers to have the finest seafood possible, and more importantly without any chemicals. We value the health of consumer at the top priority here. There are some clients who are fighting with unfortunate cancer; the products provide a safe source of protein for these consumers; another example is a family with younger kids; they told me their kids have never been able to eat shrimp from anywhere but PLA Organic. That leads to the conclusion that PLA Organic has made a difference in this society by changing consumer’s behavior a little bit at a time. They are cutting several processes that include middlemen so that the fishermen are getting fair deals on their catch, which links my second issue, ‘the livelihood of fishermen’.
The livelihood of fishermen
Making differences in the world. This second issue is the fishermen are not making much money for their livings, since they are in debt with a middleman, he/she dominates the price of their catches. So that they do not care about the freshness of their catches. It is because after arrival on the shore all their catches will be taken by the middleman who they are in debt with. Small research conducted at the beginning of project and found out that fishermen have been getting the same price for their catch in the past decade, which is not fair for them, on a contrary the price for seafood has been increased for more than 40% in the past decade. At PLA Organic, they are giving the fishermen the fair price they deserve in exchange for top quality fresh seafood. Last but not least, besides getting more profits for the local fishermen, the most important factor for us is for them to have a place in the society where their hard work is valued. Especially people in Pattani where there are conflicts over the past several years and it’s not safe for them to sell their products in the local areas. Here is one of the interviews of the fishermen’s family in Pattani, “As a Malay Muslim different language, different culture will feel alienated from Bangkok society. Therefore, when joining the project, there was feedback that my fish were good. I feel very proud, I feel that I am a part of the society here too. PLA Organic connected these fishers to Bangkok city”.
Irresponsible fishing practices
Support the responsible fishing. PLA Organic is helping with the core problem so that it will eventually solve the issues in the long run which are sustainable use and manage of fisheries resources—PLA Organic only accepts the products from responsible fishing practices and they are getting paid more than they would with any other middlemen. With PLA organic system, the fishermen who are using responsible fishing practices that work with are making around 30-40% more of what they normally make so fishermen in certain villages are interested in doing more responsible fishing with PLA Organic. Looking back about 30 years ago, Pattani was one of the most troubled area where the sea is lack of fish and not the same. According to one of the local fishermen, “Pattani had experienced a huge decline in aquatic animal resources from the use of destructive fishing gear, trawlers and push netters. Pattani had almost no fish left to catch, causing coastal small-scale fishing villages to gradually collapse, and immigrating to Malaysia to sell labor, there were other problems and many more to follow. Later on, several fishing community leaders started to fight back with the trawl and push net operators. Costal conservations activities including sea guards to stop illegal/destructive fishing, artificial reef installation, mangrove rehabilitation, aquatic juvenile release have been implemented for retaliation for coastal resources in Pattani” PLA organic started working with Pattani since 2016 to support them on the post-harvest management and market issues. Then PLA Organic could be one of the small waves to make the difference in the society.

To Sum Up

According to the founder, “The villagers themselves are good catchers but with the post-harvest and supply chain management, as well as transportation the system here in Thailand makes it impossible to be in the market in the same way that they have been caught”. In the past, most of our small-scale fishermen probably wouldn’t put ice into it to keep it fresh while going out to catch other fish because when the fish come up on the shore; the fish have to be handed to the middlemen. Then the middleman will definitely use formaldehyde to help keep it fresh. The biggest issue is consumers unable to choose what to consume: when it arrives in the market, everything looks the same. It cannot be traced back to how it was caught, unlike working with us: consumers will know exactly which sea the seafood was from, when and who caught the fish. At PLA Organic, when or if the customer returns the products; we will give the feedback to the area that this product was from. Therefore, they must be enthusiastic about how to keep it fresh. All we can do is train them on how to keep the seafood fresher for a longer time. PLA Organic is not just a marketplace in which consumers can come and buy seafood products; it’s being more responsible for the environment and to the consumers. Last but not least, PLA organic wants to create awareness to the consumers and looking for change in our society.

PLA Organic X Organic Village

Collaboration with Organic Village. PLA Organic delivery system will be aligning perfectly with Organic Village subscription orders because we specifically know when we need each product for our valued customers; we can either do fresh catches or frozen depending on our customer’s needs. Moreover, we can make it work with our regular customers by letting them know if they want to get fresh catches so that they need to place an order no later than Monday so the fresh catches can be delivered on Thursday unless we will have a frozen section at Organic Village for customers who prefer to have frozen food. Both PLA Organic and Organic Village are doing their best to have the best products, most varieties, and convenient for our consumers. Since our seafood products are from small-scale fishers, then your pre-order may not come as your wish, due to seasonal, weather and sea conditions or unexpected circumstances. However, thinking about substitute seafood items will be a good way to work together between fishers, PLA Organic/Organic Village and consumers.