Royal Agricultural Station Angkhang

The establishment of Angkhang Royal Agricultural Station can be traced back to Their Majesties the King’s and the Queen’s visit to the villagers of Phak Phai in Fang subdistrict of Chiang Mai province. While passing through the Doi Angkhang area, Their Majesties noticed that although most of the hill-tribe villagers grew opium poppy to earn a living, they remained poor and continued to exhaust the natural resources in watershed areas, a practice detrimental to both the local and regional eco-systems.

Aware that the area, which had lost its forests, was not overly steep and had a temperate climate with widespread poppy cultivation, that the hill-tribe villagers earned as much income from growing native peach trees as from growing opium poppy, and that Kasetsart University’s Temperate Fruit Experimentation Station had experimented on grafting European peach buds on the native parent tree, His Majesty made a personal donation of Baht 1,500 to buy some plots of land in Doi Angkhang area from hill-tribe people. In 1969, His Majesty established the Royal Project as his private project and appointed His Serene Highness Mom Chao Bhisatej Rajani chairperson of the Royal Project Foundation. Subsequently, His Majesty kindly named the station “Angkhang Royal Agricultural Station.”

Since then, the Angkhang Royal Agricultural Station has been operating as a centre for experimentation on the cultivation of various temperate plants ranging from fruit trees to vegetables to flowerings plants. Such operations have been a model for hill-tribe farmers, who now grow these plants as cash crops.

Location : Changmai