The Beginning of the Development

The Agricultural Service and Development Center, located at Km 22 at Baan Na Yang, Muang Na Sai Thong, Vientiane, is the first development project established in the Lao People's Democratic Republic according to the royal initiative of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. The Center was set up in 1994 following the written request made by His Excellency Kaison Phomviharn, former President of Lao PDR, for support of the establishment of a project similar to the Royal Development Study Centers in Thailand. His Majesty once explained about this in an excerpt from his speech quoted below:

"...The implementation of the various projects is aimed towards bringing happiness to the people at large, regardless of their nationalities as Thai or Lao. When any country and its people are happy, peace and tranquility will prosper. There is no specification whether it is in Thailand or Lao PDR. If the people live happily and decently, security will prevail in that country..."

His Majesty's Royal Speech - Given on 9 April 1994

      The result of His Majesty's kindness in granting cooperation to Lao PDR became the beginning of the development of this Center. Located on 325 rai (130 acres) of square-shaped land with a width of 800 meters and a length of 900 meters, this place was topographically found to be appropriate for agricultural development, with the presence of two surrounding creeks, Huai Sonn and Huai Soie, and the characteristics of the area consisting of slopes alternating with plains. Surrounding the Center are five target villages comprising Baan Na Yang, Baan Na Sonn, Baan Hua Khua, Baan Num Kiang Nuer and Baan Num Kiang Tai.

Huai Sonn Reservoir's irrigation system within the center area.

There are all together 6,090 people within 1,067 households. The Center relies on the guideline of the Royal Development Study Centers in Thailand in implementing its activities which are divided into fishery, livestock, development of land, development of crop cultivation, propagation of fish fingerlings, plants and animal breeds, organization of training to educate the visiting farmers as well as provision of technical services. The first priority was to disseminate this knowledge among the farmers in the five surrounding villages. Then the extension work followed to cover four other target villages which are Baan Nong Kun Koo, Baan Na Sup, Baan Hua Chang and Baan Daan Si. Now the project's service has covered the entire project area.

Development Administration

For the past 8 years since its establishment in 1994, the Agricultural Service and Development Center (Km 22), called the Huai Sonn - Huai Soie Center, has carried out its work implementation under the supervision of an administrative body set up in the form of "the Thai Working Group" and "the Lao Working Group". The Thai Working Group consists of representatives from the Office of the Royal Development Projects Board, which act as the central coordinating agency, and representatives from concerned agencies including the Royal Irrigation Department, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Land Development, the Department of Livestock, the Department of Fisheries and the Royal Thai Embassy at Vientiane. The Lao Working Group comprises representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the City of Vientiane, and Muang Na Sai Thong District. These working bodies jointly formulated the policy and plan, and continuously administered the project in a way which enabled the project to produce continuing achievements.

Huai Sonn Reservoir	Labour hiring for rice farming at Baan Na Yang

       As for the administration and management within the project, the Director of the Center has the duty to translate the policy into practice by means of the annual operational plan, with the help of two deputy directors and chiefs of sections which include the administrative section, the crop cultivation section, the animal raising and fishery section, the community promotion and development section, the irrigation section and the machinery section. All these people work together to formulate the operation guidelines as well as control, monitor, supervise and coordinate the various activities to ensure their consistency with the development work plan.

       For the operation in the initial phase, the Thai side supported the construction and installation of the basic infrastructure and the irrigation system such as buildings, and a reservoir of a storage capacity of 1.8 million cubic meters with water delivery canals of a total length of 5.7 kilometers. It also set up demonstration plots; supported production inputs; extended the development results by digging the farm's ponds with a water storage capacity of 2,000 cubic meters each; provided the knowledge, promotion work and technical advice; as well as arranged training and study tours in Thailand. Similarly, the Lao side complemented the Center's development activity by constructing roads leading to the project site; extending the electricity coverage area; hiring officials and workers to work at the Center; carrying out the project administration and management work; arranging demonstrations; organizing training; propagating and distributing animal, plant and fish breeds; providing some animal and fish fodder; setting up water delivery canals and alleys into the farmers' land as well as repairing animal stalls and office buildings. Due to this cooperative collaboration, the operation of the Center has produced successful outcomes which meet the demands of the farmers and the Laotian people in general.

Evaluation: Integration of Development

The development of this Center has progressed until a different picture is formed from the past when there were no electricity, roads, and good infrastructure; when there was no water to support agriculture; and when there was not yet promotion of agricultural technical knowledge, all resulting in low production. Nevertheless, the major problem persisted. It was the insufficient water supply in Huai Sonn Reservoir to meet the increasing demand of the farmers for agricultural uses. It was not until Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's visit to observe the operation of the project on May 25, 2001, that the solution of this problem came about. Her Royal Highness graciously commissioned the Office of the Royal Development Projects Board to consider conducting a data survey related to the benefits from Huai Sonn Reservoir to be gained by the people and the socio-economic impact of the construction of the reservoir. This led to the integration of academic evaluation under Thai-Lao cooperation, which will help to search for the solution to the problem concerning development restrictions and set the directions for a systematic project development approach.

       Apart from the study on the project achievements and progress, the socio-economic change, the At utilization of water sources, as well as the problems, obstacles and development restrictions, the project evaluation has an important objective to establish technical cooperation between Lao PDR and Thailand, which will advance the close relationship between the two countries. Under the joint coordination between "the Thai Monitoring and Evaluation Team" and "the Lao Academic Evaluation Team", an interview was conducted with the farmers in 278 households from a group sample of 1,676 households both in the five surrounding villages and four villages under the development extension program, totaling nine villages. The sampling was done using a statistical system accounting for 17 percent of the total households.

At the commun market of Baan Hua Khua which is the commercial center for agricultural products from 9 villages, the agricultural products are displayed for sale only in the evening.	A farm pond at Baan Na Yang.

       The process of collecting data for analysis began with a survey of the conditions of the villages, and preparation of charts containing the data of the villages and name lists of the heads of the sampled households. Then Thai and Laotian officials were dispatched to work together in collecting data on a single household basis by conducting interviews using questionnaires which are both in Thai and Lao. While doing the interviews, they also observed the situations. In depth interviews were also conducted with the heads of the community and the project officials both at the administrative and operative levels.

       The application of the knowledge learning approach, the participatory research and the joint actual practice under this evaluation activity has contributed to profound acknowledgement of the thinking method, the problems, the demands of the farmers and the attitudes of the Laotian operating officials. There had been an exchange of different development experiences between the people of these two countries which can be used as data for analysis and research into the development of the project at the grassroots' level.

Successful Outcomes of the Development

The evaluation results indicated successful outcomes, and limitations of the project development as follows.       

      Project Implementation : The implementation was effective and mainly conformed with the guidelines of the Royal Development Study Centers which include demonstrations, monitoring, extension work, and provision of training courses. These activities were carried out with the support of the works such as construction of basic infrastructures, study on water sources for drinking and daily consumption, agriculture, and development of crops, land, livestock, as well as fishery on a continual basis. Another activity was to create a "model family" to act as a center of learning and exchange of experiences on agricultural development, which can effectively be the core for the result extension work to other farmers at the community and village levels.

      Project Management: According to the perspectives of the officials at the management and working levels, management, administration, planning, work coordination, and budget administration of the Center were carried out effectively. The Center was adequately equipped with necessary office supplies and equipment. However, there should be promotion of additional activities to meet the needs of the villagers such as propagation of animals, crops, and fish breeds, promotion of occupation in the area of agricultural products processing to provide supplementary income, and the setting up of village funds or agricultural cooperatives, by encouraging group work on a continual basis.
      Impacts on the People: Overall, the economic changes showed a positive trend. The yields from seasonal and off-season rice farming, on the average, have increased. Before project inception in 1993, the rice yield amounted to only 32 buckets/rai which, when compared to the 2001 figure of 46 buckets/rai, showed an increase of 14 buckets/rai. This gain plus the sales from other areas of agriculture, including crops, vegetables, fruits, animals and fish, led to an increase in earning. In any case, agriculture contributed to other types of occupation, for instance, hired labor especially in rice farming, selling of agricultural products, land plowing service, trading, production of household furniture, and supplementary occupations such as rice container basketry and sewing. It is evident that agriculture can bring income from diverse areas into the family. This led the people living under the project to have a better quality of life and increased earning, which in turn contributes to expansion of population as well as families. There have been more social group formations such as a crop cultivation group, animal raising group, water user and maintenance group, and underground water user group. The phenomenon gave rise to unified cooperation that benefited the whole community as well as strengthened society. It can be said that agricultural production is a basic activity which can support or create other fields of work and is therefore the core to development both at the community and national levels. The afore-mentioned successful results confirmed that this project undoubtedly helped uplift the standard of living of the people in the targeted areas.

      Water Sources Development: The construction of Huai Sonn Reservoir and its irrigation system, together with provision of small-sized water sources of lower Huai Sonn and Na Sup dikes and the digging of 142 farm ponds, enabled the villagers to gain increasing agricultural products and resultantly, a higher income. One indirect benefit was an increase of the amount of water at Tad Sonn Waterfall, the water receiving area from Huai Sonn Reservoir which consequently turned out to be another important tourist attraction, bringing extra earning to the community.

Directions of Development

n general, the development of the project achieved considerable success. However there is still one significant limitation to the development . a lack of adequate water supply for agriculture. This is because Huai Sonn Reservoir and the small-sized water sources were not capable of distributing enough water for rice farming and other agricultural activities, which are the backbone occupation of the Laotian people. This scarcity also showed an increasing trend. Such limitation coincides with the project evaluation results of the sample group, in that, 71.41 percent foresaw the necessity of constructing a reservoir with a greater retention capacity which can accommodate and distribute more water to the farmers throughout the whole project area.

       The project evaluation results will greatly help in determining the directions for the development of the project, especially for water sources development to support agriculture. A long-term measure of seeking foreign assistance in constructing additional reservoirs will be used in combination with a short-term approach of digging farm ponds to store water and forming a water user group to manage and administer the use of water in a more systematic manner. There will also be the formulation of a master plan to clearly define the framework for development, which will provide major guidelines for development and improvement of various activities under the project. The goal is to develop the project into an all-inclusive Center in the form of a "Living Natural Museum" to provide services among the farmers and the general public. The approach to development will be done in an integrated manner which emphasizes a binding cooperation among the public sector, the private sector, and the people, to create a sustainable development.

Final Chapter of Development

wing to the farsightedness of His Majesty the King, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, our long time neighboring country, has benefited from the use of the Agricultural Development and Services Center Project as the model of integrated development and the center of learning from actual practices under the cooperation between the public sector and the people. This bilateral cooperation will foster development coordination and cooperation among other neighboring countries in this Asia Region, to promote peace and security forever.

Interviewing the farmers at Baan Na Sonn.