Thailand: Royal project

“The staff of the project give the people around the area knowledge about agriculture. After that, the people proceed by themselves. The project ensures a better local economy. We give each family a pig and help to make a dam to support their farming,” Thanakorn said.
An encouraging sign has been visits to the three project villages by representatives from Sakhon Nakhon, Buri Ram and Khon Kaen, intent on taking knowledge from the project home with them.
In Nam Pak village, in Nan’s Tha Wang Pha district, the 92 households have always lived in poverty. They earned a living by planting corn, and to increase their production they burnt nearby forests. Eventually, the village suffered from annual flooding.
A dam built with the help of the royal project has helped to prevent the flooding problem. Now, there is sufficient water for their crops and home use. As threats of annual floods have receded, the living conditions of the village people have improved.
As well as giving villagers knowledge about farming, the royal project also teaches them how to complete household accounts. It supports them in raising pigs and chickens. The villagers are encouraged to shift from corn to rice cultivation, to reduce the deforestation problem, and after their rice is harvested, they are advised to grow dry-season vegetables.
“In the past, such plantations were out of question because we had no water,” said Rit Kannika, the owner of Kannika Garden. “During the rainy season, we suffered from flooding and this damaged our crops. I had to borrow from banks to finance new crops. But with the dam, there is plenty of water for my farm. Now, I have some savings. From 10 buckets of rice per rai per year from the rice field, I now harvest about 35 buckets. The royal project has changed my life.”
According to Thanakorn, Nam Pak village now generates an annual income of about Bt6 million.
Success has also brought visitors to Nam Pak.
Last month, it welcome electrical-appliance manufacturer Toshiba Thailand, which brought along 39 of its dealers.
Pid Thong Lang Phra Fund director Karan Suphakitwilakhakan said Toshiba was the first private company to join the fund’s activities. It is one of the fund’s missions to support the corporate social responsibility efforts of private companies.
Toshiba Thailand chief executive Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said that since 2005, taking its dealers to visit royal projects had been one of the company’s CSR activities.
“We used to give them overseas tours, but we found out later that travelling within the country would generate more revenue for local people,” she said. “Our dealers are also happy to learn more about the royal projects.”
While in Nam Pak, the Toshiba dealers joined villagers in cultivating vegetables and visited the dam and villagers’ farms. Toshiba also donated a sum of money and a laptop computer to the fund.
“I am happy to have had the chance to visit the royal project and grow vegetables with the people in the village,” said Toshiba dealer Kirati Klomsa-ard. “I have never done this before and I enjoyed it. It is good for establishing a good relationship between the company, its dealers and the people of the village.”

After two years of operations in Nan, the Pid Thong Lang Phra Royal Project is ready to share its knowledge with more villages. From pilot projects in three villages across three districts, the project is about to expand to cover villages in all of Nan’s 12 districts, under the slogan “to reach, understand and develop”. Project manager Thanakorn Ratchatanon said the royal project began two years ago with the aim of solving the problems of poor villagers. Its focus was on agriculture, water resources, forests, energy and the environment.