Strength of the land
The history of modern agriculture cannot be told without describing how His Majesty the King sowed its seeds
Ionce wrote an article about His Majesty the King’s Royal Project for an information and policy studies institute in London, which commissioned me to write about development issues in this part of the world.
The article was never published. “It’s a good piece but I’m worried that it sounds rather sycophantic. There’s a lot of bowing to the king,” the editor commented, adding that I should rewrite the story in a different context. I never sent the story back.
What foreign editors and readers do not realise is that writers who have closely observed the work of the King and Queen could not write about Their Majesties without sounding “rather sycophantic” when we are only stating the facts. My husband, ML Charuphant, has been with the Royal Project as a volunteer researcher since 1976 and during the rare occasions that I went with him to see his research work on the highlands of Chiang Mai, I observed how the mountainous landscape changed, thanks to the project initiated by the King.
“When we moved there in 1979 to set up an agricultural research station, there were no roads, hundreds of acres were planted with opium poppies, and once I stayed overnight and saw a group of heavily armed men passing by,” Suthat Pleumpanya, office manager of the Royal Project in Chiang Mai, recalled. “Later a couple of health officers went to the village and were ambushed and killed by communist insurgents.”
Mr Suthat was talking about Mae Hae, a remote Karen village straddling the Mae Chaem, San Pa Tong and Samoeng districts of Chiang Mai. Today, the village boasts a wellpaved road, and there is no trace of opium poppies as fruit trees and vegetables cover the mountains and hills.
Ahoe Sae Ya said he grew opium poppies until development workers gave him vegetable seeds. “I planted the seeds and found that I could earn more from vegetables than from opium,” he said. “When the price was good, I earned up to 15,000 baht per rai a year from opium. With vegetables, I found I could make the same amount of money twice a year because unlike opium poppies, it was possible to plant two vegetable crops a year, or even three if there’s enough water.”
Mr Ahoe said he planted opium poppies as it was the only crop he knew how to grow to earn money and he did not have to worry about marketing his crop. “There was no road, but buyers came on horseback to buy the opium from my house. But now that there is road, transport is easy, and the Royal Project is around to give advice and help with marketing.”
Ning Sae Lae, the village’s headman for several years, said that he himself planted opium poppies, but he began to switch to fruit trees when an extension worker from the Royal Project gave him saplings and urged him to plant them. Mr Ning is now the proud owner of a Toyota pickup bought with money earned from his 40 rai of pear, persimmon and other fruit trees.
Mr Ahoe and Mr Ning are but two of the thousands of hilltribe villagers who now enjoy a better standard of living thanks to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose death 10 days ago is mourned by the whole country.
During a visit to remote hilltribe villages on the highlands of Chiang Mai in the mid-1960s, His Majesty observed that the villagers grew apricots, but the trees were of an old variety and had very small fruit.
In a subsequent visit to Doi Ang Khang in 1969, the late King came upon land abandoned by opium growers, and decided to turn it into an experimental station and demonstration site for improved varieties of plums, peaches, pears and other fruit trees suitable to the cold mountain climate.
His Majesty set up the Royal Project to administer the work, and several countries offered help by giving seeds, plant stocks, equipment and technical expertise. Experts from Kasetsart University were joined by volunteers from Chiang Mai University and Maejo Institute of Agricultural Technology in Chiang Mai in researching appropriate crops to introduce to the hilltribes and teaching them modern agricultural techniques. Government agencies jumped in, building roads and irrigation systems, and developing the land.
While some countries initially gave money to support research work, the Royal Project was for many years financed by money from the late King’s own pocket. Today, it has 38 experimental stations and countless substations in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son. Depending on the season, consumers can enjoy avocados, strawberries, peaches, pears, persimmons, plums and passion fruit, as well as aubergine, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrot, leek, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini and Japanese pumpkin, etc.
Since its inception, the Royal Project has been doing the marketing so that the hilltribe villagers do not have to worry about selling their produce. The crops are brought to the capital every week by an air-conditioned lorry, and may be purchased at Doi Kham shops at airports, Kasetsart University and beside the Farmers’ Cooperative Market at Chatuchak. Other products include canned fruits and vegetables, canned and bottled fruit juices, jams, and fresh and dried flowers and herbs.
The hilltribes of northern Thailand’s mountains now enjoy a decent life as they cultivate their own land. It’s all because Thailand had a king who was genuinely concerned with improving the lot of the rural poor — a king who dedicated his whole life to the service of his people. His mission accomplished, may His Majesty now rest in peace.