SUSTAINABLE STRATEGY FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT BY HIS MAJESTY KING BHUMIBOL OF THAILAND

Abstract

Agriculture is the main important part of Thai occupation. Planting without planning always causes the problem of agricultural products. King Rama IX or His Majesty the late King Bhumibol has done an action research on his personal land since 1989 in order to explore the effective way of land and water management. He then finally found that “The New Theory” is the most effective way of helping Thai people to manage and cultivate their lands for the agriculture. The New Theory is practised at three levels focusing on the effective management of farmland to optimize its use. Level one is to introduce a specific way of dividing the farmland into 30:30:30:10 proportions. There are 30% of the pond, 30% of paddy field, 30% of trees and crops, and the last 10% is for residential. This first level is particularly for individual benefits. For the next two and three levels, there are for collective benefits at the community and national levels. The New Theory leads to better outcomes related to the domain of material, society, cultures and environment. The New Theory can bring to food security, sustainability and self-reliance. Therefore, this can influence farmers and general public to have a more positive attitude towards an occupation in the agricultural region. The new theory is also brought and applied by many countries such as Kingdom of Lesotho, the Kingdom of Bhutan, and Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.