“…with righteousness for the benefit and happiness of the Siamese people…”

“…the well-being and happiness of the people are a benefit that is difficult to be measured in terms of money…”

Royal Speech on the occasion of the Royal Birthday Anniversary (1991)

There is no other palace in the world like Chitralada Palace. Dotted with diverse agricultural projects-fish ponds, rice fields, a diary farm-it looks more like and experimental agricultural village than a king’s residence.

Foreign visitors may find this puzzling, but the Thai people know the answer well. Indeed they consider themselves fortunate to have a king such as His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose compassion and concern for their welfare is well known. His Majestic fully realizes that Thailand is an agricultural country and that its people are mainly farmers. Hence his determination to develop agricultural and processing enterprises so as to improve his people’s wellbeing.

To solve various problems besetting the farmers, His Majesty has allocated and area within the compound of his residence for use in agricultural research and experimentation, in order that he may closely study and find the correct ways to remove the constraints.

The Royal Chitralada Projects are there for research and experimentation projects aimed at agricultural development. Data and research results are collected and made available to farmers and all people interested in agriculture. The projects are more concerned with obtaining results of true value than with the time and funds required. They strive to adapt basic scientific knowledge and modern technology to the available local agricultural resources and environment. An example is tissue culture for rattan propagation in order to provide materials to meet both domestic and export demands for handi crafts and furniture, and to prevent the extinction of this plant of economic value.

In The Royal Chitralada Projects, emphasis is placed on making maximum combined use of agricultural inputs and wastes, and thereby reducing considerably the cost of production, for example the soilless culture of plants using locally-available materials such as rice husks and coconut coir as substrates, and plastic sheets as containers.

Farmers are often faced with the problem of falling prices of their produce owing to a glut in the market. Producers of perishables such as vegetables and fruits are the most vulnerable. To solve the marketing problem, the Royal Chitralada Projects encourage farmers to form agricultural cooperatives so as to acquire more bargaining power, or to be able to bypass middlemen by selling their products directly to consumers. By forming themselves into groups, farmers can pool their resources to set up semi-industrial plants of process their produce, which could then be kept longer for sale according to market demand.

Medium-sized agro-industry is suitable for the country as it does not require heavy investment and allow a “full-cycle production”. The Royal Chitralada Projects in the diary field are a good example of this. Dairy farmers may start with raising cows in a small area of land, then form themselves into groups along the lines of a cooperative and set up a small plant to process their milk. The manure, a by-product, can be utilized to fertilize the fodder grass or to produce biogas.

The Royal Chitralada Projects also serve demonstration purposes. His Majesty the King has given his permission for all interested members of the public to visit the Projects at all time, as may be seen in the following excerpt from his speech, given on the occasion of the opening of the Dusit Milk Power Plant in 1969;

“…Consider this Plant as a model plant, Who ever wishes to acquire knowledge, or to make a dairy business successful and beneficial for the people and for the national economy as a whole, may come and observe the activities of the Plant any time He may ask questions and offer ideas, for some may get ideas that are of benefit to the people at large, ideas that we, on our side,may not have thought of. Pooling our thoughts would contribute to the progress of the dairy business in Thailand…”

Each year the Royal Chitralada Projects are visit by more than twelve thousand people, The number can even reach twenty thousand in certain years. This visitors include heads of states, farmers’ leaders, royalty, district and village chiefts, members of the diplomatic corps, school students, delegates to international meeting held in Bangkok, religious leaders, private companies (foreign and local), foreign correspondents, foreign technical experts, and government officials fro various agencies.

The Royal Chitralada Projects have proved to be useful for research, education and training as well. One graduate from Hohenheim University in Germany has chosen the Projects as subject of this thesis. Another from the same University is conducting research on one of the Projects. A Canadian from the British Columbia Institute of Technology has received training at the Projects, which also dispense training in various fields for 50 to 64 Thai students each year.

Many government agencies and the private sector, both within outside the country, have volunteered their technical and financial support for the Projects, owing to their common awareness that the Projects’ raison d’ e^tre is the improvement of the welfare of the people of the entire nation.

The Projects are divided into two types, viz.:

non-commercial projects, such as the aquaculture, experimental rice fields, biogas, tissue culture projects, etc.; and
semi-commercial projects, which have receipts and expenditures but of which the profits are ploughed back into the Royal Chitralada Projects for their further development:these include the dairy farm, milk power plant, experimental rice mill projects,etc.

The basic approach is to “reflect first” and then to set about “solving all the problems”. As His Majesty says: “Our objective is for village to be able to be their own masters. What we seek to do is…to safeguard all that is worthwhile and has helped to sustain our nation to this day.”