Ban Khlong Ruea School in Kamphaeng Phet Province has transformed an empty land into a learning area for the students there, enable them to experience real, tangible tasks on the agriculture.

The school director, Prachaksin Buengmum, said that, aside academic activities, the students also need a “life skill, for their future use. Mr. Prachaksin explained how the principle of sufficiency economy has been integrated into the curriculums. “The Sufficiency Economy Philosophy is something everyone knows how to do, but no one actually put it into practice. However, once teachers and communities came together to discuss on the curriculums, it was found that almost every house was diong monoculture farming, resulting fluctuated crop price every year. Everyone at the meeting believe that sufficiency economy is the solution for sustainable income of communities or at it would help reducing household expenses.”

By the end of 2019, the area of ​​16 rai of the school was divided into ponds for aquaculture, vegetable farm and livestock farming. However, everything is still going without a clear roadmap. Not until the school joined CP Foods’ “Raising Layer for Student's Lunch”.

The school raised 150 laying hens with the support of Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CP Foods), Siam Makro and the Charoen Pokphand Rural Life Foundation that provided chicken breeding, animal feed and free housing in the first generation.

Using lesson learnt from CP Foods’ school lunch project and Sufficiency Economy, the school further developed it own agriculture project so-called "Dow Lom Duan Center", operated by parents and students, in a 20-rai area to be both a community food store and a true community-run business.

Today, it continues to build on the success of more than 20 families who started from raising 20-25 laying hens per family, along with raising fish and growing vegetables for their own meals. This allows each household to have food for consumption without having to buy it. Meanwhile, the rest produce will be shared with relatives and neighbors or sold in the community market.

As a result, of successful program, the school has been awarded as the 2nd Sufficiency Economy Village of Kamphaeng Phet Province.

“During this COVID-19 crisis, the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy and the knowledge that everyone has received from CP Foods’ raising layer project, help us to ensure food security. Every house can be self-reliant, reducing going to the market, so there's no risk of covid-19 and no risk of chemicals in vegetables. Chicken eggs are also clean and safe because everyone takes care of their produce, this project truly meets the needs of the community,” said Prajaksin.