".....This matter of helping the Hill-Tribes people, and the Royal Hill-Tribes Development Programme itself, directly benefit the Hill-Tribes community as it promotes the making of a worthy livelihood through the cultivation of readily marketable cash crops. The primary reason for the existence of such a project is humanity, that is, the desire to help the people who live in remote areas of the country to better themselves through their own efforts. Another reason, which is universally regarded as a major problem, is the narcotic problem. If the Hill-Tribes people can be encouraged to grow substituted cash crops then opium cultivation will certainly diminish, thereby rendering the anti-narcotic issue successful as the matter
would have been solved at its sources. Furthermore, the Hill-Tribes people use the slash-and-burn technique of cultivation which is destructive to the land as the destroyed forests decrease the watershed areas of the country. Thus, if all of us help the Hill-Tribes people then we are indirectly assisting the country to develop and prosper, as the success of the Hill-Tribes Development Programme means that they will live and farm in one area, thereby aiding the reafforestation and watershed devlopment projects for the future benefits of the country......"
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An excerpt from an impromptu speech by His Majesty the King given to lecturers an students of the Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai Province, on January 10th. B.E. 2517 (A.D. 1974) during a visit with Her Majesty the Queen and Their Highnesses Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and Princess Chulabhorn. Transcribed by the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary.
The Royal Hill-Tribes Development Programme, at present called The Royal Project, was inaugurated in the year B.E. 2512 (A.D. 1969), following His Majesty the King's expressed desire to initiate the benefits of sedentary agricultural practice to the Hill-Tribes community with introduction of substituted cash crops that, in some cases, may fetch higher market prices than opium. During the early stages of the project, His Majesty encouraged the grafting of temperate climate peach scions to the stocks of local species of peach trees. The grafted trees bore fruits that were improved in texture and taste and were hardy enough to withstand long transportation journey to the markets. Other temperate climate fruit scions were also experimemted with at
different elevations at the Royal Project's Highland Agricultural Research Stations in various villages in Chiang Mai Province, Phui Village, Mae Chaem District, Khum Village, Fang District, Khun Wang Village, San Pa Tong District, Sam Mun Village, Chiang Dao District, and Mae Tho Village, Hot District,