Voiceless in the Night
By Garry | June 27th, 2002 | Category: Business, Feature Articles, Government, Hill Tribes, Tourism | 3 comments
Published in Chiangmai City Life Magazine – September 2002
Re-uniting Lan Na – Part 2
CHIANG MAI, Thailand – 27 June 2002
Decades ago, HM King Bhumipol realised that there were crops more profitable to the growers than opium. Beginning with, “Small peaches are expensive and bigger ones more expensive”, the Royal Projects encouraged the Hill Tribe peoples to change their agriculture from opium to other cash crops. To date, the success rate has been impressive, but now it may be under threat from current government policies in Thailand. Hill Tribe income growth, of the last twenty years, may be reversing through an over-reliance on the sustainability of tourism. For the Tai Hill Tribe peoples there is uncertainty coming from ongoing tourism successes…