The Doi Kham Company (Thai : ดอยคำ ) was founded in 1994 by the

Crown Property Bureau The Crown Property Bureau (CPB) (; ) is legally the administrative agency responsible for managing the property of the King of Thailand. The king had appointed six members of the bureau's governing board, with the seventh the sitting Minister of ...

at the request of

King Bhumibol Adulyadej Bhumibol Adulyadej (5 December 192713 October 2016), titled Rama IX, was King of Thailand from 1946 until his death in 2016. His reign of 70 years and 126 days is the longest of any Thai monarch, the longest on record of any independent ...

to set up a business to buy products from royal projects and farmers at fair prices and sell quality products to the Thai population.

Origin

The Doi Kham Royal Project was begun when King Bhumibol Adulyadej visited Chiang Mai during the cool season in 1964. He had the opportunity to observe the problems of rural villagers. In the hilly northern region, farming was of the

slash and burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. T ...

variety and was causing the forests to be reduced to ashes. Also, the number of people growing

opium poppies ''Papaver somniferum'', commonly known as the opium poppy or breadseed poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It is the species of plant from which both opium and poppy seeds are derived and is also a valuable orname ...

was increasing. At the king's command, the royal project was created to provide alternative sources of income for

hill tribe Hill people, also referred to as mountain people, is a general term for people who live in the hills and mountains. This includes all rugged land above and all land (including plateaus) above elevation. The climate is generally harsh, with s ...

villages that formerly relied on opium production and

swidden agriculture Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The ...

Name

The meaning of the words "Doi Kham" comes from two northern Thai words. The word "doi" means 'mountain' or 'hill' while the word "kham" is a shortened word for "thongkham" which means 'gold'.

Operations

The

Royal Project Foundation The Royal Project Foundation is a Thai non-profit organisation based in north Thailand. It was founded by King Bhumibol Adulyadej as an umbrella organization for his charitable initiatives and research.

operates four research stations and thirty-five development centres that work with 295 villages containing 14,109 families. Involved are approximately 85,000 rural Thais and hill tribe peoples. Doi Kham Royal Project, in

Chiang Mai Province Chiang Mai is the largest Provinces of Thailand, province (''changwat'') of Thailand by area. It lies in Northern Thailand#Regional classification of northern Thailand, upper northern Thailand and has a population of 1.78 million people. It ...

, is a wealth of flowers, herbs, fruits, and vegetables that are produced in order to increase the value of agricultural products and help the farmer gain more income. The company produces a wide variety of agricultural products including ready-to-drink

fruit juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such ...

s, fruit

juice concentrate A concentrate is a form of substance that has had the majority of its diluting agent or diluent (in the case of a liquid: the solvent) removed, such that the substance becomes the majority of the composition. Typically, this will be the removal o ...

dehydrate In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water that disrupts Metabolism, metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds intake, often resulting from excessive sweating, health conditions, or inadequate consumption of wate ...

d fruits,

jam Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

, and flowers. Doi Kham exports 30 percent its output to the Asia Pacific region. The company objective is to support the development of Thai agricultural products and to produce goods which have a high nutritional value with no chemical additives. Their products do not contain preservatives or artificial flavors. Doi Kham Food Products is a private limited company. In recent years it has been profitable. In 2016, the firm had revenues of 1.82 billion baht. Projections for 2017 and 2018 are 2.07 billion baht and 2.4 billion baht. Doi Kham employs total of 200 persons including five engineers and five quality assurance staff. Doi Kham has processing plants in Fang District,

; Mae Chan District,

Chiang Rai Province Chiang Rai (, ; , ) is one of Thailand's seventy-six Provinces of Thailand, provinces that lies in Northern Thailand#Regional classification of northern Thailand, upper northern Thailand and is Thailand's northernmost province. It is bordered ...

; and Tao Ngoi District,

Sakon Nakhon Province Sakon Nakhon (, ; , ) is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (''changwat''). It lies in upper northeastern Thailand. Neighboring provinces are (from north clockwise) Nong Khai, Bueng Kan, Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan, Kalasin, and Udon Thani ...

. The company has 34 retail shops nationwide.

References

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External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20131202222219/http://www.doikham.co.th/aboutus_en.php * http://www.travelfish.org/blogs/thailand/2011/05/27/the-kings-project-doi-kham-shop/ Food and drink companies of Thailand Companies based in Bangkok Royal Initiative Projects Thai companies established in 1994

Origin

Name

Operations

See also

References

External links