The Pid Thong Lang Phra (doing good without any intention of getting anything back) royal programme seeks to secure the participation of educational institutions and private companies for its next five-year development plan to help address rural poverty.
The project's secretary-general MR Disnadda Diskul said the 2016-20 programme aims to tackle poverty ailments in 24,068 villages covering 20 million people nationwide.
Founded in 2008, Pid Thong Lang Phra is a royally-sponsored initiative that specialises in rural development using the sufficiency economy philosophy to tackle the problems of deforestation, flooding and poverty.
It aims to promote reforestation and crop diversity to maintain soil quality.
In June the cabinet approved a 1.5-billion-baht budget to support the second phase of the programme from 2016-20. The scheme is expected to expand to other provinces and organise training programmes to include more state officials and communities.
The first stage was implemented for five years in Nan, Udon Thani, Phetchaburi, Uthai Thani and Kalasin provinces.
The project could help farmers in 2,017 families to generate 285 million baht in income, enabling them to repay their debts. The programme has become a role model for rural development and the government agreed to expand it to other provinces.
MR Disnadda Diskul, head of the project, uses the sufficiency economy philosophy.
Khon Kaen University agreed to join the project in fiscal 2016. It will establish a learning centre for the sufficiency economy and provide training courses.
The university plans to team up with 19 educational institutes to implement the project in the Northeast.
MR Disnadda said in Nan province, development has progressed thanks to close cooperation from the public, government and the private sector.
In late 2009, the Pid Thong Lang Phra programme initiated projects in three Nan districts: Song Khwer, Tha Wang Pha and Chalerm Prakiat, covering 20 villages and 250,000 rai of farmland. The three districts are watersheds and the Nan River is one of the most important tributaries of the Chao Phraya River. Most of the forest areas there were destroyed to grow maize, especially on the slopes, causing landslides during the rainy season.
The programme started a weir and reservoir development project, building 180 weirs to supply water to the farmlands, while encouraging farmers to grow other crops after the rice harvest such as banana chillies, sesame and pearl barley.
Thanakorn Ratchatanont, Pid Thong Lang Phra's project manager, said 40 companies have agreed to buy crops from farmers in the three districts including Betagro and Charoen Pokphand Group, creating a market link.
A study found the annual income of 1,722 families in 20 villages in the three districts amounted to 220 million baht in 2014, an average of 127,800 baht per family. Their average income had risen by 18,222 baht or 33.1% from 2009.