Exploring ontological pluralism in Thai Buddhist natural farming through a topological approach

Information from the abstract

Climate-related hazards, including recurrent drought, flooding, and seawater intrusion, increasingly disrupt agricultural production and threaten rural livelihoods in Thailand, challenging farmers’ ability to maintain established farming practices and adapt to changing environmental conditions. In response, the Thai government has promoted the Khok Nong Na (KNN) model through the ‘Sufficiency Economy Development Zones for Sustainable Development Goals’ (SEDZ) and the ‘KNN for Hope’ projects. KNN promotes a form of Buddhist natural farming that integrates Buddhist principles, the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP), Thai traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), and elements of agroforestry and agroecology. Using KNN as an empirical case, this study examines how this diverse body of knowledge is localised and translated into agricultural practice, and how different knowledge systems interact in the process. Using Actor-Network Theory (ANT), particularly its multiple spatial topologies of regional, network, and fluid spaces, this study investigates the spatiality and ontological pluralism involved in co-producing and implementing Buddhist natural farming knowledge. This study collected primary data through in-depth interviews with knowledge producers at the Mab Ueang Agri-Nature Centre in Chonburi and knowledge users in the SEDZ project in Chiang Rai and Ubon Ratchathani. The findings reveal that KNN implementation is a multi-topological process in which regional, network, and fluid spaces interact to facilitate knowledge transfer and local adaptation. Yet interactions among scientific, technical, and Buddhist ontologies expose conflicts and discontinuities in translating and enacting knowledge in local practice. These tensions complicate KNN localisation, underscoring the importance of accommodating ontological plurality in policy implementation and fostering sustained dialogue between science and Buddhism.

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Related topics: Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Agricultural Innovations and Practices