Teen’s farming know-how earns her a top honour
A firm determination to learn has borne fruit for a 15-year-old girl from Phatthalung, who was yesterday named young farmer of the year on Royal Ploughing Day.
Rattanakarn Nualchan has played a leading role in agricultural projects — growing rice, gardening vegetables and feeding fish — at
Ban Teng School in her home district of Khuan Khanun.
At home, she grows chillies and other plants for household consumption and sells the surplus at markets as extra income for her parents, who have been farmers for generations. Since she was 11 years old, she has also gone out with them to help tap rubber trees to earn a living.
She noticed many cows roaming in her neighbourhood, so she came up with the idea of collecting their manure in her free time and using it as soil fertiliser, and then sharing such insights with her friends at school.
She has also learnt more from the young farmers’ club set up at the school with other organisations in Phatthalung and even neighbouring provinces.
“The farming project at Ban Teng School is outstanding,” Sansern Boonsanit, the chief of the district agriculture office in Khuan Khanun, said on YouTube. “It helps students admire farmers and appreciate the value of farming.”
Rattanakarn was t he youngest to receive the award from Their Majesties the King and the Queen, at Sanam Luang yesterday, along with 37 other individuals and organisations from the farming industry, as part of the activities for the Royal Ploughing Ceremony.
She will continue her education by studying high school at Khuan Khanun School in the district this year. The young farmer could not be reached for comment, but she once revealed her motto that drives her secret of success to the Agriculture News website.
“Don’t ever stop practising because all knowledge comes from it,” she said.