HM’s legacy a boon to Myanmar
Late King’s sufficiency economy principle is helping many poor villagers, writes Wassana Nanuam
His Majesty the late King’s sufficiency economy principle has been recognised for the tremendous value and practicality it brings to people well beyond Thai borders, as it has been adopted to help overcome poverty in a rural area in Myanmar.
The Mae Fa Luang Foundation under Royal Patronage launched a project six years ago to help improve the livelihoods of people in the poverty-stricken Yenan Chaung township of Magway region in central Myanmar.
The project follows the late King’s sufficiency economy philosophy aimed at promoting sustainable development, moderation and prudence so each community has enough to support themselves.
Much of the land in the town was barren with sandy soil, with a local river which often runs dry. Peanut plants, which grow best in sandy soil, are the town’s only staple crop.
In desperate times, local people must dig deep wells to get underground water for use.
Another problem is the town is plagued with snakes. An average of 15 people are killed by snake bites each year. Many snake bite victims die on their way to the hospital as they must travel a long distance for care.
However, the Mae Fa Luang Foundation has set up a snake antivenom serum bank to supply 29 villages so local people in Yenan Chaung can receive quick, lifesaving treatment.
The foundation has also built a reservoir in the town to provide water for agriculture, and set up “a seed bank” from which local people can take out loans to buy seed for cultivation. They have also set up a goat bank from which villagers can borrow and raise livestock to sell over two years.
The foundation has also taught Yenan Chaung residents how to process, package and market their peanut products under the “Happy Owl” brand for sale in other parts of Myanmar.
The development project in Yenan Chaung township has been funded with a budget of 95.4 million baht from the foundation, as well as from the Office of the Royal Development Projects Board, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), and the Foreign Ministry.
Khunying Puangroi Diskul na Ayudhaya, deputy secretary-general of the Mae Fa Luang foundation, said residents can overcome poverty if they are given a chance, adding the late King’s model of sufficiency and sustainable development has proved a success in the Myanmar township.
Khunying Puangroi said the foundation’s next move is to concentrate on its “alternative development” project in three Myanmar cities in Shan State, which was launched four years ago and is expected to be completed in the next two years. The project has been financed with an annual budget of 40 million baht from the ONCB.
The project is aimed at promoting the planting of coffee trees, tea trees and macademia, and building check dams for use in agriculture, she said.
She added the foundation has also been active in efforts to eradicate malaria and is working to control tuberculosis in the area.
U Chui Maung, a 73-year-old villager in Yenan Chaung, said he was grateful to the foundation for its help.
He said that even after four years of guiding and implementing the development project, villagers wanted the foundation to remain and help them.
“They taught us everything,” he said. Narong Apichai, director of the foundation’s Field Operations Centre, said the foundation has received continued support from the Myanmar government.