Thant Zaw's Input Shop
Many programs that aim to support farmers transitioning to regenerative agriculture begin by selecting an area and pushing new practices from the top down. The Healthy Soil Movement works in the opposite way. We start by finding farmers who are already experimenting, already questioning, already transitioning - and we support them to go further. We build from what already exists.
Many of the farmers in our pilot are people we’ve worked with for years. Others are newer, introduced to us through neighbours and peers. One of these newer farmers is Thant Zaw, who farms near Pindaya in Shan State. Even without our involvement, Thant Zaw could spark a movement of his own. His enthusiasm is infectious - and more importantly, he is seeing real results.
He began cautiously. On one acre, he stopped applying chemical fertilisers and pesticides and instead used compost, local bio-stimulants, and homemade amino acids. He planted cover crops between his main crops and carefully recorded his costs. What he found surprised him: farming without chemical inputs was more profitable - especially as the price of imported inputs has nearly tripled. By the time we met him in August, he had already expanded from one acre to four acres of chemical-free production.
One of the most encouraging things he shared with us was how our soil tests and dashboard gave him something new: a clear path forward. While he was already motivated to experiment, the data allowed him to measure and track soil improvements over time - alongside yields and profits. It gave his intuition structure and confidence.
We visited Thant Zaw’s farm on a rainy day. We walked barefoot across his fields, quickly regretting our light-coloured clothing choices, which would never fully recover from the deep red Shan soil. We spent the morning going through soil tests together - examining impressive rhizosheaths* clinging to plant roots and counting earthworms** as signs of a living system beneath our feet.
Out in the field, we noticed a small erosion gully, but what stood out more was the depth of his compaction layer - it ran far deeper than expected. The contrast became even clearer when, on our way out, we crossed into a neighbouring farmer’s field. There, the compaction layer was less than half as deep. Even barefoot, we could feel the difference. The softness and resilience of Thant Zaw’s soil disappeared just a few fields over.
As we walked, Thant Zaw picked up a discarded plastic bottle from the ground and frowned.
“Alas! Chemical pesticide!” he said.
“Probably bought from your shop,” Sophia joked.
We all burst out laughing.
The irony wasn’t lost on any of us. Thant Zaw runs an agricultural input store that is still far from organic-only. But over the past few years, he has been steadily adding more bio-stimulants to his shelves - placing them right next to chemical NPK fertilisers and pesticides. More importantly, he has been persuading fellow farmers to try natural alternatives, using his own fields as proof.
At midday, we stopped at his shop (also his family home) for lunch. His family prepared a generous spread of Shan State goodies: mountain rice, seasonal bamboo shoots, crispy Shan tofu, chicken soup, stir-fried chayote shoots, Shan tomato and fermented bean sauce. We ate heartily with his agricultural input store behind us and a jar of fermenting banana enzyme quietly bubbling away in front of us.
Large-scale conventional farming is not easy to shift, especially in places like Pindaya and its surrounding areas, which supply much of Myanmar’s vegetables: cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, ginger, and other staple crops. Farmers here are under constant pressure to achieve high yields. Chemical inputs promise fast, visible results. But their excessive use degrades what was once fertile Shan soil and leads to long-term harm - to the land and to the people who farm it.
This is why farmers like Thant Zaw matter so much. He understands the pressures farmers face. He is courageous enough to experiment, practical enough to measure results, and generous enough to share what he learns with his neighbours. Change is never easy - but with clear incentives, shared knowledge, and visible success, it is possible.
We hope that when we visit Thant Zaw and his family again, his shelves will hold only natural inputs. Until then, his fields - and his influence - are already doing the work.
*The rhizosheath is the soil that sticks to a plant’s roots when it is gently pulled from the ground; we look for soil that holds together rather than falling away, which indicates active roots, strong microbial life, and healthy soil-plant relationships.
** The earthworm count measures how many worms are found in a small area of soil; higher numbers indicate active soil biology, good structure, and a healthy, living soil system.