Farm enjoys sustainable yields through His Majesty’s New Theory
WEERA PHOOWA, 40, and his wife Buakham, 38, have applied His Majesty the King’s New Theory to ensure a stable income from their farm products and self-sustainability, and the result is rewarding.
Their main products range from sunflower sprouts, morning glory sprouts, and bean sprouts to perennial plants.
His Majesty’s New Theory focuses on planting diverse vegetables, which take turns giving yields at different times. This means farmers can reap sustainable yields and earn sustainable income throughout the year. If they plant only one crop, they will reap only one yield at one time of the year and will have to wait for the next seasonal yield cycle to make income.
Weera, a policeman, and Buakham, a hairdresser, have jointly leased 20 rai (3.2 hectares) in Supalaiburi village in Pathum Thani province to plant vegetables since 2008. The first crop they planted in this farm they named “Phoowa” consisted of bitter melons, long beans and angled gourds, which they can harvest within 55-60 days. They have also cultivated perennial plants such as bananas and mango.
Planting all of these in an open-air land plot means it is hard for them to control the environment to ensure the survival of the vegetables.
Buakham said the prices of these vegetables were also volatile. Sometimes the price drops sharply to Bt50-Bt60 per 5 kilograms from the average of Bt120 per 5kg.
Later they decided to add sunflower sprouts, morning-glory sprouts and bean sprouts after their farm was hit by the great flood of 2011. At that time they thought they should also cultivate the vegetables that can give them yields within a short time, besides their existing perennial plants.
Cultivating such vegetables is also a way to diversify risk and ensure self-sustainability. This idea was inspired by their learning of His Majesty’s New Theory.
They have also cultivated these sprouts in a greenhouse, which makes it easy for them to control the environment. It is also easy for them to plant these vegetables according to customers’ specific demands.
“We can produce a total of 100kg of sprouts per day, which brings us Bt8,000 a day,” Buakham said.
She added that half of the farm’s products were sold to modern trade channels via a community enterprise network and the rest they distributed themselves to popular traditional fresh markets in Pathum Thani.
