Royal project to be adopted as model for government’s social business
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha stated that the Royal Project, an initiative of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, will be adopted as a model for the Government’s social business, in order to improve the people’s living conditions.
The Prime Minister on 27 April 2016 chaired a meeting of the Royal Project Coordinating Committee at the Royal Park Rajapruek in Chiang Mai province to follow up on the operations of the Royal Project.
The meeting approved the five-year Master Plan on the Royal Project Development Centers, 2017-2021. The plan places an emphasis on water resource management, forest encroachment controls, and rehabilitation of watershed areas. At the same meeting, the Master Plan on the Highland Development Project, Phase 5, was also approved. The plan aims to develop the quality of life for highland communities and promote food security and sustainable development.
The meeting also approved the 2017 budget allocations to support the operations of 38 Royal Project Development Centers and the development 29 areas under the Highland Development Project.
The Royal Project came into being in 1969, when His Majesty the King visited hilltribe villagers on Doi Pui, Chiang Mai province. He heard that a number of hilltribe villagers moved to settle in the Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai province for poppy opium cultivation. Traders traveled to the village to buy their opium. Although they earned income from the growing of opium, the villagers were still poor.
His Majesty the King talked to the villagers to gather first-hand information. He intended to help them grow useful crops that would give a higher income than growing opium, so that they would switch from opium cultivation to other crops. His Majesty learned that the income from growing peaches was higher than that from growing opium.
Apart from peaches, hilltribe villagers were encouraged to grow many other temperate-zone plants, such as strawberries and plums. That was how His Majesty’s Hilltribe Development Project was launched, now known as the Royal Project.
The Royal Project, which was registered as a foundation in 1992, involves the growing of a wide variety of cash crops, especially temperate-zone plants. There are currently 38 development centers under the Royal Project in northern provinces to help farmers collect, distribute, and sell highland produce, while improving their quality of life through education, health care, and environmental preservation.
The practice of organic farming has also been introduced in these centers.