Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Royal Chitralada Project
The Royal Chitralada Project
Dr Suvit Yodmani
Bangkok, Thailand, 2011
Thailand’s royal institution, which has prevailed for almost eight hundred
years, endures under the aegis of the Royal House of Chakri and the stalwart
guardianship of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
A significant turning point in the country’s recent history occurred in 1932
when a bloodless coup d’etat transformed the Kingdom of Siam _ renamed
Thailand in 1939 _ from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy,
leaving the ruling monarch as a titular head of state.
By chance, constitutional reform presented a unique opportunity for the
youthful King Bhumibol to interact closely with the people of Thailand. His
Majesty embraced the opportunity with patience and understanding, taking great
care not to impede or hinder the business of government. In due course the King
earned the love and respect of both the people and government officials.
Subsequent excursions to the remotest parts of the kingdom enabled the
Thai monarch to learn firsthand of the plight of marginalised people, particularly
ethnic minorities. Desolate villagers, hooked and dependent on the opium trade,
were eking out a living on the hillsides of northern Thailand. Indiscriminate
slash-and-burn farming methods were turning large tracts of forested land into
endless fields of poppies. To the farmers, poppy cultivation was essential to fulfil
longstanding trade deals with unscrupulous traders _ and to feed the farmers’
addiction to opium. Driven by poverty, this appeared to be their only survival
option. But opium became both a means of survival and an instrument of
destruction for the hill people and their environment.
Confronted by what seemed an impossible task, the King resolved to tackle
poverty as the fundamental source of the hill people’s hardship and, at the same
time, lower their dependence on poppy cultivation. Acting with the farmers’
implicit cooperation, and with help from government agencies, His Majesty set
out to forge an alternative, sustainable lifestyle that could be adopted by
impoverished villagers.
The cheese plant also produces ice-cream, yogurt, butter and condensed milk
The Royal Chitralada Projects 19
Demonstration forest
His Majesty also decided to introduce a
demonstration forest at Chitralada Villa to study tree
species after observing a large number of dipterocarp
trees being felled for timber during the course of a
visit to Klai Kangwol Palace on the Gulf of Thailand.
Aware of the need to preserve these giant trees
because of their ecological importance to rainforests,
the King planted dipterocarp seeds at Klai Kangwol
Palace and later had the saplings transferred to
Chitralada Villa. Other tree species from different
parts of the country were planted along with the
original saplings.
When Thailand celebrates HM the King’s eighty-
fourth birthday anniversary in 2011 this demonstration
forest of over one thousand saplings will mark fifty
years as a thriving forest with its own localised
climate that induces rainfall over Chitralada Villa.
Fish farming
Following a visit to Thailand in 1968 by Japan’s Emperor
Akihito (Crown Prince Akihito at the time) His Majesty found a way
to address concerns that poor families _ mainly farmers _ were not
able to enjoy high protein diets. During his stay in Thailand, Emperor
Akihito had presented the King with fifty fingerlings of Tilapia
nilotica (River Nile fish) which His Majesty raised at Chitralada
Villa and subsequently offered to farmers for breeding and
consumption. Today Nil fish, the name given
by the King, constitutes an important source
of good-quality protein. Later on, the
Department of Fisheries conducted studies
aimed at improving the strain of Nil fish
which, after its third phase of improvements,
is now regarded as the “Chitralada strain”.
Overseas visitors
From time to time, often due to economic concerns over, say, oil
shortages or a fall in the price of sugar cane, the Royal Chitralada
Projects team will respond by expanding the scope of its studies and
demonstration sites.
The 1970s saw the introduction of an experimental rice mill, a
windmill at the nil fish pond, and a rice-husk grinding plant.
Concerned about future oil shortages and the prospect of the falling
price of sugar cane, His Majesty initiated a self-financed study in
1985 to establish the cost of producing alcohol from sugar cane as an
alternative energy source. The Royal Chitralada Projects team used
alcohol obtained from agricultural products, or waste, to produce
gasohol and diesohol by blending alcohol with gasoline or diesel oil
respectively. Subsequently, the high cost of producing diesohol for
diesel engines inspired the team to research the production of
biodiesel from vegetable oil or animal oil leftovers from
commercial use.
Throughout the 1980s work continued with experimental,
alternative fuel production schemes, fruit juice and dried fruit
production, a drinking water plant, cheese plant and a plant for
mushroom culture. In the 1990s a honey production plant was
established along with a cannery for fruit juice, a sa paper factory,
and a solar energy house and cold water production plant using heat
generated from rice husks. Since 2001 further work has resulted in
the establishment of the Suan Chitralada UHT plant, biodiesel
production, a solar-powered water pumping station, and a wind-
powered electricity generator.
Visitors to The Royal Chitralada Projects can obtain permission
to tour the facilities which can take two to three hours for a cursory
study of the entire complex.
In the first nine months of 2010, forty-nine different groups of
visitors comprising some one thousand three hundred people from all
walks of life received permission to tour the facilities at Chitralada
Villa. Visitors included law students, exchange students, graduates
and even teachers from universities specialising in agriculture.
But there were many overseas visitors made up of diplomats
and other personnel from
ministries and embassies
concerned with agriculture,
aquaculture, and forestry
management in their own
countries who were eager
to learn from the work
carried out at Chitralada
Villa. In some cases, for
example in the Kingdom
of Lesotho and Lao PDR, similar study centres were set up in their
own countries to conduct agricultural experiments along the lines of
those carried out by the Royal Chitralada Projects team in Thailand.
Lessons learned from experimental work in the grounds of
Chitralada Villa, from studies at six
royal development study centres that
were established in different locations
in Thailand in the late 1970s and
early 1980s, and from the many
projects enacted by His Majesty and
members of the royal family, today
continue to play a leading role in
bringing improvements to the daily
lives of Thailand’s less fortunate
people.
In the cooperative spirit of
sharing knowledge and exchanging
information with friends around the
world, the following Chapters in
this publication offer a small sample
of royal development projects and
other activities that have played an
important part in establishing the
Kingdom of Thailand’s Royal Family
alongside others who champion
humanitarian causes.
Advisor
General Pichitr Kullavanijaya
Chairperson
Dr Suvit Yodmani
Vice Chairperson
Police Major General Chalermbongse Komarakul
Members
ML Anuporn Kashemsant
Ms Dhachakorn Hemachandra
Mr Frank Skilbeck
Khunying Kanita Lekhakula
Ms Malithat Promathatavedi
Professor Santhad Rojanasoonthon
Ms Somlak Vongngamkam
Khunying Songsuda Yodmani
Ms Srinit Boonthong
Dr Weerachai Nanakorn
Ms Wineenart Phanvut
Editor
Mr Frank Skilbeck
Editorial Group
Police Major General Chalermbongse Komarakul
Mr Richard William Jones
Professor Santhad Rojanasoonthon
Ms Srinit Boonthong
Dr Weerachai Nanakorn
Ms Wineenart Phanvut
Photographic Credits
Police Major General Chalermbongse Komarakul
Mr Kraipit Phanvut
Mr Samphan Aiadnoi
Mr Somchai Nguansangiam
Mr Vinid Rungpueng
Dr Weerachai Nanakorn
Production Designer
Ms Wineenart Phanvut
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