The Effects of Food on Thai Cultures: Part Six
by This is the sixth part of a multi part article that looks in depth at the effects food has played in the cultures found in the lands currently known as Thailand. In this part the King of Thailand and how he has affected with food, Thai cultures are discussed.
The King of Thailand
No person has helped improve the lives of Thai farmers more than His Majesty King Bhumiphol Adulyadej. His lifetimes work to developing irrigation and agriculture is a testament to His love for His people and His commitment to making the lives of His people better.
“… The prosperity of the country relies on ensuring that the prosperity of agriculture is given top priority…” (His Majesty King Bhumiphol Adulyadej)
(Ministry of Agriculture and Coorperatives, 2005)
Image via Wikipedia
When He was five years old, His Majesty noticed that monkeys would store bananas inside their cheeks instead of eating them all at once. Sixty-three years later the King recalled His childhood memory and decided to implement it into an irrigation system that would greatly improve the lives of all Thai citizens.
Over the years, Thailand had fallen victim to floods and droughts. If the water could be stored and channeled, just like the bananas, the devastation caused by flooding and droughts could be prevented. The Bhumiphol Dam was completed in 1964, indicating that the ‘Monkey Cheek Project’ had been around for quite some time, but it was never given an official name until His Majesty’s Birthday Speech in 1995. During the last thirteen years, more and more dams have been built, meaning that the amount of land that benefits from controlled irrigations has increased dramatically.
The King is the only monarch in the world to have a patent. This patent is for rain-making technology that ‘seeds’ clouds by the use of aeroplanes. If there are farmers with drought problems, the aeroplanes can successfully seed the clouds and bring much-needed water to the parched land.
Image via Wikipedia
In His quest to improve agriculture, His Majesty the King proposed a ‘Self-Sufficiency Theory’. Due to droughts, floods, over farming of soil, and the fluctuation of rice prices, the King proposed that instead of farming just rice, thus relying heavily on the crop, farmers should divide their land as follows: 30% for the production of rice, 30% for the production of other crops such as sweet corn, pineapples, mangos and sugar cane, 30% for living on and 10% for raising livestock and fish. By using the land in such a way, farmers wouldn’t be dependant on rice and it would ensure that farmers always had enough to eat and would never go hungry. The King knew that 100% self-sufficiency would not be possible:
“…full sufficiency is impossible. If a family or even a village wants to employ full sufficiency economy, it would be like returning to the Stone Age, to that age where humans lived in grottos or in caves, where they did not have to rely on others because other communities were enemies; they fought each other; they did not cooperate. Therefore, they had to resort to full sufficiency economy.” [His Majesty King Bhumiphol Adulyadej]
The King’s idea was for his people to become 25-50% self-sufficient so that every single citizen would have enough to survive. He then applied this theory to 15 rais of infertile land in the province of Saraburi. After digging and finding a water supply, the land was farmed in the aforementioned way for a year and all the produce grown were given to the local community, plus there was enough surplus to sell, making a profit of 20 000 Baht. The majority of Thai farmers has adopted His Majesty’s theory and is now reaping the benefits.
Bibliography
Ministry of Agriculture and Coorperatives. (2005). Agruculture.Retrieved August 25, 2009, from Miniistry of Agriculture and Cooperatives: http://www.moac.go.th/eng/inside.php?pages_id=38
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