Prof. Gunjan Saxena
This paper sheds light on the lived experiences and practices of rice farmers in the provinces of Ayutthaya and Saraburi in Thailand. Using theoretical insights from the practice approach and phenomenological research on lived experiences, I present an intricate array of participants’ categorisation of the self, the farming landscape, and their notions of self-in-the-landscape. Data, collected via 43 semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion, reveal how structural changes impacting the rice farming context in Thailand (e.g. growing urbanisation, climate change and the outmigration of the young) have disrupted the way farmers symbolically code and discursively comprehend and experience their role. I conclude by arguing in favour of policies that foreground the lived experiences of individual farmers and their practices to effectively address and ameliorate the impact of structural changes impacting upon farmers’ lives and livelihoods.
This research was funded by H2020-EU.1.3.3. (2018-2023)under the EC-Asia Research Network on Integration of Global and Local Agri-Food Supply Chains Towards Sustainable Food Security (GOLF) - Grant Agreement number 777742.
Keywords: Food security, structural changes, lived experience, practice, rice farmers, Thailand.
