THE PROCESS OF ESTABLISHING A LEARNING NETWORK FOR SHRIMP PASTE PROCESSING: A WAY OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY IN FOOD IN THE TUNG SAI AREA BEACH COMMUNITY

Abstract

This article was the presentation of the process of network creation for shrimp paste processing as a way of food self-sufficiency that was established in the communities of Tung Sai beach area. These communities had an evolution of growth from the agricultural society to the knowledge-based society. They had more adaptation to learn about local culture. The experiences and ideas of wisdom that have been to create and to accumulate a long time were passed to the new generation. These things produced the way of self-sufficiency in the communities to cope with changes to globalization. When the communities can be self-sufficiency, it produced the communities strong. However, the community costs, including wisdom base and resource base, provided the creation of foods and the productions resulting to food security. It was the positive impacts on knowledge development, identity creation and inheriting wisdom in term of learning community of shrimp paste processing (Khey). They operated by using the activities to drive the process and the wisdom scholars as a mechanism to create the knowledge. The activities were 3 levels including: 1) family level, to provide the knowledge for development of career skills, 2) community organization level, to apply the sufficiency economy philosophy, and 3) community level, to manage the effective knowledge. These activities resulted to maintain the resource base toward abundance which was an importance resource costs of the communities. The resource abundance led to produce the community unique products, to create the local economy and to raise the level into an organization and learning community. Furthermore, the people who conducted the facilities of this learning were the community leader group. They used a tool that was the process of community development to build the strength within the communities. Thus, they as a leader group in new paradigm were called “change leader”