The Kutnakham SUPPORT center is located in Charoensin District, Sakon Nakhon Province. Its
first membership group consisted of citizens from two villages, the total population of the two
villages is 1,400 people, whose major occupations were vegetable growing and fruit orchards. Its
chronic problems were twofold: infertile soils and flooding in the flood season and shortage of
water in the dry season. His Majesty built a reservoir in 1984 for use as the village’s own source
of water. Still, the people remained poor as they relied solely on agriculture. Despite their
poverty, the people of Kutnakham maintain a strong sense of unity. They have participated in the
“forest preserving water” or Pa-Rak-Nam project under the initiative of Her Majesty since 1983.
Later, the Kutnakham SUPPORT center was established at Ban Kutnakham so that the poor
could engage in supplementary occupations after the harvest. Once the ceramic factory began
operation, the Ministry of Science and Technology sent specialists to give advice at sessions that
attracted a large number of interested persons. The result has been the special brand of ceramics
unique to Ban Kutnakham. Her Majesty subsequently promoted the ceramics at exhibitions
abroad, which won recognition worldwide. Her Majesty added further variety to their SUPPORT
endeavors by selecting talented individuals for more training at the Chitralada center in many
different branches. At present, the Kutnakham SUPPORT center supports additional
occupations, such as artificial flowers, silk weaving, carpet weaving, and water hyacinth
basketry.