In Table 5.3 may be found data on land use, rice production, and consumption requirements in Palokhi. The data on the size of swiddens were obtained by a method commonly known as the field-book-and-compass-traverse method, while the size of wet-rice fields were determined through the use of aerial photographs. The data on rice production and consumption are based on reported figures and are given in litres.

The Palokhi Karen invariably measure their rice harvests in swiddens and wet-rice fields, using as their standard unit of measurement a 22 litre kerosene tin called a pip. It is a measure which they have adopted from the Northern Thai. The estimates of the size of harvests brought in by households are generally reliable, although the Palokhi Karen usually round off their reported figures to the nearest 10 pip. The annual consumption requirements of households in Table 5.3 are based on the amounts of rice required per day, as reported by each household. As far as domestic consumption requirements are concerned, the amounts required by households per day tend to be constant, unless there are visitors or when there are village celebrations. The figures on annual rice consumption requirements do not take into account the extra demand for rice on these occasions.

In the table, rice production from swiddens and wet-rice fields is given in litres of unmilled rice, while total production is given in litres of milled rice, in order to render the table a little more concise, and for purposes of comparison with consumption requirements. The conversion factors for glutinous and ordinary rice (unmilled to milled, by volume) are 0.55 and 0.44 respectively. These factors were obtained from a series of samples based on rice milling (or husking) for household consumption. The method of milling in Palokhi, which is employed by all rice-growing households, consists of pounding rice in a foot-powered mortar. The consumption requirements of households are given in litres of milled ordinary rice, which is generally consumed in preference to glutinous rice. Glutinous rice is usually used for making liquor and rice cakes on ceremonial occasions and households will only eat this kind of rice on occasion, for variety, or when their stocks of ordinary rice are exhausted.

Rice surpluses and deficits are also given in milled rice. The crucial data in the table, for this analysis of rice production and consumption in Palokhi, are the data on rice deficits, expressed as deficits in glutinous rice, experienced by individual households. All surpluses are given in litres of glutinous and non-glutinous rice where applicable. The deficits in non-glutinous rice (in brackets) have, however, been converted to deficits in glutinous rice which are the key indicators of the extent to which households are dependent on an external economy for their rice to make up their deficits. The reason is that the Palokhi Karen invariably buy glutinous rice from shops in Northern Thai settlements as this is cheaper. It is also, generally, rice that is more commonly available as it is the preferred form of rice among the Northern Thai in these settlements who also purchase it to meet their own requirements. The deficits in ordinary rice have been converted into deficits in glutinous rice for each deficit household in the table. The conversions were arrived at on the basis of reported figures on how much glutinous rice would be required for each household’s daily requirements if there was no ordinary rice. For those households which did not produce any rice at all, the glutinous rice deficits represent absolute rice requirements for the year. For those households which cultivated one or both kinds of rice, the deficits in glutinous rice represent glutinous rice requirements only after their stocks of ordinary and glutinous rice were used to meet their consumption needs.

I have already noted in the previous chapter that there is no redistributive system as such in Palokhi where rice from surplus households may be channelled to households with deficits. It may also be pointed out here that in Palokhi, the Karen generally do not make it a practice to buy or sell rice which they produce themselves, although occasionally rice may be exchanged for some commodity or other.^[14] Such transactions are limited in nature and are resorted to when there may be a lack of ready cash. Furthermore, rice is usually only exchanged in this way by households with rice surpluses so that the initiative and willingness to utilise rice in this manner lies with them. As most goods in these transactions are available through easily accessible sources (within or around Palokhi, and in shops in Northern Thai settlements), the use of rice in such exchange transactions is the exception rather than the rule. Within Palokhi, therefore, rice is only circulated or “redistributed” in very small amounts. Accordingly, deficit households can only obtain rice from external sources, namely, shops in nearby Northern Thai settlements such as Ban Mae Lao and Ban Pa Pae.

As may be seen from Table 5.3, total consumption requirements, in Palokhi, in non-glutinous rice was 28,470 litres, while total production, also in non-glutinous rice, was 23,890 litres, thus giving an overall shortage of rice amounting to 4,580 litres or 16 per cent of consumption requirements. The deficit would in fact have been somewhat less, as some households could make up part if not all of their shortages with the glutinous rice they grew. The actual rice deficits in Palokhi are best indicated by the amounts of glutinous rice which deficit households have to purchase. As shown in the table, the total glutinous rice requirements of all 10 deficit households in 1981 was 10,919 litres. At the prevailing price of glutinous rice in Northern Thai shops in the area, which was 4.5 Baht per litre in 1981, these requirements represented a total cost of Bht 49,135.5 to the households concerned.

There was no evidence in 1981 to indicate that any of the households were eating considerably less rice than they required daily, at least in general, although there were occasions when a few households (notably H5, H10, H13a, and H13b) reduced their consumption by having two meals a day (rather than three which is the norm in Palokhi) as and when it became necessary. Despite the straitened circumstances which these households occasionally faced, this indicates that the Palokhi Karen were generally able to meet their rice deficits through purchases of rice. It is probable that the amounts of rice purchased were greater than the estimates of the deficits given in Table 5.3. The reason is that these estimates represent basic consumption requirements, and do not take into account the fact that some of these deficit households were under some obligation to make rice liquor and rice cakes on various occasions, as well as to feed visitors and helpers in their fields. Nevertheless, the estimates of rice deficits in terms of glutinous rice will be sufficient to show the extent to which the Palokhi Karen as a whole depend on external sources for rice to meet their consumption requirements.