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His Majesty’s sufficiency economy has found a foothold in an unlikely place - Laos



Director Anulome Tunalom stands in front of one of the center’s fisheries.

Model project

By Phoojadkarn Daily

22 August 2006

Decades have passed since His Majesty the King first spoke of the philosophy of sufficiency economy. As the years have gone by, the philosophy has become more popular, especially following the 1997 financial crisis. In varying degrees, many Thais now apply sufficiency economy principles to their daily lives. The philosophy is most visible, however, in the royal agricultural projects nationwide that have greatly benefited many Thai farmers.

What many people don’t know, is that this philosophy is not limited to Thailand but has spread to the neighboring Lao People’s Democratic Republic where a former leader used a rural development project in Thailand as a model for a project just outside the Lao capital of Vientiane.

“In 1992, former Lao PDR prime minister Kaysone Phomvihane went to Thailand on an official visit. He had a chance to visit a royal project at Huai Hoi Krai in Chiang Mai province. On his return, he sent a letter to His Majesty asking for his help in setting up a similar agricultural development center in Vientiane as a role model for Lao farmers,” says Anulome Tunalom, director of the Agricultural Service and Development Center that he is speaking of.

“In 1993, His Majesty offered to help set up the center, saying it would be a good link between Thailand and the Lao PDR. Both Thai and Lao officials then helped choose a site,” he says.

The center, which is located 22 kilometers outside Vientiane in an area called Baan Na Yang, is commonly known among Lao people as the Huai Sonn-Huai Soie agricultural center. It is the first development project established in Laos to follow His Majesty’s sufficiency economy principles. It is also the first such development project built outside Thailand.

When His Majesty visited the center in April 1994, he gave a speech to Thai and Lao officials.

“The implementation of these projects is aimed at bringing happiness to the people at large, regardless of whether they’re Thai or Lao. When a country and its people are happy, peace and tranquility will prosper. It does not matter if this is in Thailand or the Lao PDR. If the people can live happily and decently, security will prevail in that country,” said His Majesty.

The center, which covers 325 rai (130 acres), is modeled on a royal agricultural center in the northeastern province of Sakhon Nakhon. It follows the guidelines of the Royal Development Study Centers in Thailand in implementing agricultural activities involving fisheries, livestock, land development, crop cultivation development, and the propagation of fish fingerlings, plants and animals while educating visiting farmers on such knowledge and techniques.

The area around the center has 6,090 people living in 1,067 households. The first priority of the center was to disseminate knowledge among the farmers in the five surrounding villages. Later, their work expanded to four more villages and now the project’s services cover the entire local area.

“Actually, Lao people have been living under the philosophy of sufficiency economy for a long time. But their farming, without direction or guidelines, relied purely on nature. With the initiative of this center, Lao people learned how to manage their resources more systematically and efficiently,” Anulome says.

Anulome outlined the seven main developmental goals of his center: infrastructure development – constructing roads, buildings and water supply systems; water resource development – a two-million-cubic-meter reservoir has been built; land development – promoting the planting of cover crops and making organic fertilizer to improve soil quality; crop development – promoting the planting of different species of rice, vegetables, fruits and mushrooms; livestock development – promoting pig, cow and poultry farming and imparting good livestock breeding methods to farmers; fishery development – breeding new species of fish while promoting fishery knowledge to farmers; and academic development – training visiting farmers on various agricultural techniques.

“Since this center was established, it is obvious that the quality of life of villagers has improved. His Majesty’s philosophy has taught us not to be carried away with materialism but to be aware of nature, the environment and our roots. The villagers are very appreciative of this project,” Anulome says.

One of the center’s most important activities is the creation of model families where the center selects poor, landless farmers to live on its grounds and receive agricultural training. The center provides each family with more than 10 rai of land, which they then farm in accordance with the royal guidelines.

Wongkaew Supalak, a farmer who joined the project five years ago, says his life has been much improved. From being a poor farmer who grew only rice and depended largely on nature, his family, who was given 11 rai of land, is now doing a mix of farming including growing rice, vegetables and fruits, running a fishery and raising chicken and ducks. Moreover, Wongkaew has learned to grow bamboo shoots to sell at the market.

Wongkaew’s neighbor, Kaew Pimpisuay, 57, is another man whose life was turned around by the center. He has changed from being a poor rice farmer and part-time construction worker with almost no income to a happy farmer proficient in growing organic rice.

“In the past, I used chemical fertilizer to grow rice. It was very expensive and didn’t give good yields. Also, it made my body become weak. Six years ago, my friend suggested I join the project. At that moment, I didn’t even know what sufficiency economy meant,” says Kaew.

“Since I joined the project, aside from growing rice, the center taught me how to grow vegetables and fruit and raise chickens and fish. I heard that His Majesty said that at first we should aim for a yield that is enough for food and living. After, if we have extra then we can sell it,” he says.

When Kaew first joined the project, he earned about 45,000 kip a day (about 180 baht). Now, his income has increased to 70,000-80,000 kip a day. This is considered quite a lot for Lao people. With this income, Kaew has almost saved enough to move out and build his own house where he intends to apply all that he learned at the center. Kaew says his departure will make room for other poor farmers to join the project.

“The sufficiency economy of His Majesty prevents us from starving. We have rice, vegetables, fish and chickens everywhere. Each day, we hardly spend any money on anything. Living like this has taught us to live in harmony with nature. But more importantly, it improves our quality of life,” says Kaew’s neighbor, Kampoon Visetawin, who joined the center four years ago.

Thai Day