Persistence pays off

Rayong man, with the help of locals, transforms his village into model of sufficiency economy, writes Karnjana Karnjanatawe

- Karnjana Karnjanatawe

Tourists can ride a modified vehicle to visit orchards and tour around the village.

For Chartchai Luangcharoen, failure was never the end but the beginning.

Once a struggling farmer in Ban Jamrung of Rayong province, he faced poor harvests, market rejections and scepticism from neighbours.

Yet 25 years later, he has transformed his small village into a model of sufficiency economy, proving that persistence, learning and community spirit can turn hardship into collective achievement.

Ban Jamrung, in Klaeng district, has a history spanning nearly 150 years. Early settlers migrated inland from the coast in search of fertile land, eventually settling near the Jamru Canal. The name “Jamru”, derived from the Chong ethnic language, means a small waterway. Over time, the pronunciation gradually shifted, giving the village its current name.

Before Mr Chartchai, a retired village headman and a leader of the community's sufficiency learning centre, started developing his community in 2000, Ban Jamrung was like many rural communities: farmers trapped by debt, chemical farming and dependence on outside markets.

"I was a farmer myself, with rice fields, durian orchards and rubber plantations," he recalls. “We worked hard, but it never brought us real security.”

Change began with just 10 neighbours willing to experiment with the sufficiency economy philosophy of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great. Their aim was not wealth but stability, he told participants of the 4th Executive Programme in Strategic Mass Communication organised by Isra Institute during a recent visit.