Natha Chaiphet

Natha Chaiphet, known as Ja, is a rubber gardener and a member of the Thepha farmer cooperative in the Songkhla watershed of southern Thailand. She is described as a key leader of the Wanakaset movement, a grassroots agroforestry initiative focused on transforming rubber monoculture farms into Wanakaset forest gardens.

Wanakaset means forest agriculture, a traditional Thai practice of farming like a forest. Natha says it is less work and less investment if you let the wild growth be. She sells secondary food crops to a local restaurant. She is also listed with the Wanakaset Symbiosis Network, a network of community enterprises practising integrated agroforestry in southern Thailand.