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| The Royal Project Foundation |
| Written by Soui Sananikone | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, 08 June 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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On the 60th year of His Majesty the King's accession to the throne, the people of Thailand are showing their appreciation by holding many forms of celebrations. At muantae, we would like to express our deepest gratitude by highlighting the results of The Royal Project Foundation, one of his numerous projects in the northern provinces of the country.
In 1969, during his visit to Northern Thailand's hilltribe villages, His Majesty the King discovered first hand the true conditions of these northerners, once considered inaccessible. He decided to initiate activities with the aim of improving their living standards by introducing new agricultural methods while preserving the natural beauty of the environment and forests. Assigned in 1969 by His Majesty the King, then as director of The Royal Project, His Serene Highness Prince Bhisatej Rajani has been responsible for implementing and developing these activities into the current very successful multicultural Royal Project Foundation. The 37 Development Centers operating under the tutelage of The Royal Project Foundation are all responsible for extension programmes. An initial major challenge was to convince the hilltribes to give up opium cultivation while offering them other crop substitutions. Each project emphasizes the eradication of the slash-and-burn methods, the promotion of reforestation, and ceasing the illegal opium growing. The projects also stress the importance of providing education in remote areas in order to train farmers in the principles of highland agriculture and animal husbandry, and enable them to increase their earnings and become more self-sustainable. Some 100 new vegetables, including 10 European herbs, have been introduced, tested and are now growing successfully with vegetables as the top revenue making crops, followed by cut flowers and fruits. The largest organic vegetable farm is situated at the Royal Agricultural Station Ang Khang in Chiang Mai's Fang District. Prince Bhisatej cited Doi Kham's unique produces such as asparagus, Azuki beans and broad beans are delicious and Thais should give them a cooking trial. The strawberries grown there are second to none. Products under "Doi Kham" brand are available at leading supermarkets and Doi Kham outlets in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Seating behind a simple desk inside a very bare and spartan office with only a book shelf and few wall hangings, His Serene Highness Prince Bhisatej Rajani, chairman of The Royal Project Foundation, recalls some of his more memorable experiences with His Majesty the King during the course of these projects. His very noble composure did not prevent him from being very down to earth, friendly and receptive. Prince Bhisatej noted that what really impressed him was His Majesty the King's concern regarding the extreme poverty of hilltribes, such as the Hmong of Ban Khun Klang at Doi Inthanon (Thailand's highest mountain) which during that time were under the influence of communist insurgents. His Majesty assigned Prince Bhisatej to find ways to improve the conditions of the Hmong villagers. Working on development projects for Doi Inthanon, Prince Bhisatej later met a Karen village headman of Thung Khao Leep Village, also located in the area of communist control, whose villagers were running out of rice to feed their families. The Royal Project then promptly supplied rice to Thung Khao Leep Village and the Karen villagers realised that they could rely on His Majesty the King. Thung Khao Leep villagers in the meantime also realized that concerned government agencies such as the Border Patrol Police Unit did not treat them as badly as the Communist propaganda had claimed. Prince Bhisatej happily recalled clearly his first impressions of hilltribes when Hmong villagers at Ban Mae Tho were queuing to pick up the red kidney beans bags to grow in their fields. Prior to that, they had been growing opium poppies for generations and yet were still desperately poor. With good yields of red kidney beans, the Hmong villagers of Ban Mae Tho completely switched from poppy to red kidney beans cultivation within one year as a show of gratitude to His Majesty the King. "When the Arabica Coffee was being introduced in Thailand, His Majesty the King and a small group had to walk for several hours around Doi Inthanon to visit a Karen village, where only 4 Arabica Coffee saplings were growing. Later, concerns were expressed by many for subjecting His Majesty the King to such an exhausting ordeal, but His Majesty himself quickly came to my defense, stating that it was for a good cause and well worth the effort." Now some 37 years later, the situation has greatly changed. Arabica Coffee Plantation, with last year's output reaching over 400 tonnes, has become a major industry catering to a growing and hungry local and international market. Thanks to the first coffee strains from New Guinea donated by an Australian district chief whom Prince Bhisatej had met at a hotel in Chiang Mai. The Royal Project is experimenting with crayfish breeding at the Mae Jo Fisheries Station and farming at Doi Inthanon Centre following a success of rainbow trouts farming. The Royal Project is also working on a water buffalo dairy programme to produce mozzarella cheese. Temperate fruits such as peaches proved to be very successful while apples planting had to cease due to prices not being competitive because of cheaper imported ones. The Royal Project is a non-profit foundation funded by the Government and is also receiving financial contributions from various both local and overseas organisations. Prince Bhisatej added that The Royal Project will assist in temperate fruits cultivation to Bhutan and crops substitution development to Afghanistan. The Royal Project Foundation's accomplishments have been recognized locally and internationally. Among the many awards the Foundation has received are the much-coveted Magsaysay Award in 1988, the Thai Expo Award to the Doi Kham Food Products in 1988, and the Thailand's Best Quality Product Award in 1990. Prince Bhisatej Rajani humbly stresses that, without His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej, "The Royal Project would not have happened. The Thai people are extremely fortunate to be under the King's concerns for the happiness and well being of his subjects, and the stability of the country's national resources".
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