Knowledge Creator in Community Development

"Mairiang" is a Tambol (sub-district) in Chawang District, Nakhonsrithammarat province. Most people in Mairiang gained a few years in formal education system and almost work in rubber garden and native fruit garden e.g. rambutan, mangoes teen, durian, and longgong. People here have many problems as same as other farmers have, such as product-price often go down, encounter with either drought or flooding season etc. Discussion platform seem to be an initiative step for learning about living of farmers. Why farmers have debts more and more? It is a simple question that were raisised from them. After many forums were conducted, people in Mairiang knew that their alternatives have 2 choices. First is "Properity of life" or the second is "Security of life", which one should they follow it?

Finally, people here chose the latter "Security of life". The reason behide is, they never seen any crop has a stable price and they found that their working style in agriculture field have to revolve. In previous farmers have to create own-knowledge to use in their farm, but today farmers have to buy knowledge from other such as fertilizer, seedling, peticide, etc. because they don't know how to create such knowlege. This phenomenon has proceeded many many years until most of farmers lose their confidence about their capacity.

Tacit knowledge (knowledge in mid of people) of people in Mairiang shone a power of knowledge from the bottom again when people here crystallized their intellectual capitals by collective learning among themselve. They learn until know exactly about their context, know about what is fit for their community. Mairiang people created a Master Plan for community development by themselve in order to create new life of Mairiang residents.

At the moment in Tambol Mairiang has many out comes of knowledge such as Learning & Development Center (it is adminitrated by
Mairiang people), Community Council, Community Enterprise Group e.g. rubber processing factory, native noodle factory, network of cross-agri production (rubber, fruit, rice), fresh water supply, rice mill, distribution center.


More raising their confidence when one of leader, Uncle Prayong Ronarong, in Mairaing won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership from Manila, Philippine in 2004. He had only 4 years experience in primary school and worked hard in many labour field. He called it that "Life University" and approach simply through "learning by doing and sharing with neighbors"

His model was developed and use broadly as a role model for community development in Thailand.