Food Bank
It was Her Majesty’s farsighted vision, and her firm belief, that if people were fed and led a reasonably happy life, they would not seek to destroy forests in order to make a living, and would not even consider other dishonest means to earn money. Therefore, she established the Food Bank with the purpose of ensuring that villagers would have sufficient food stored to last during the lean months.
At first, the idea was put into practice to support farmers who were unable to produce anything because of a long drought or a flood disaster. Food and grains were distributed to help the villagers survive during such hard times.
When the fields were productive again, villagers reimbursed the food banks with some of their produce. For food banks located outside agricultural areas, villagers were able to make their reimbursements with some other available produce.
The Food Bank concept came out of true royal support or royal sponsorship. A granary would be constructed as a food bank to stock rice and grains, which was supervised by the village committee, selected by the villagers themselves. Regular reports would be made to local officials and sometimes regional military units. At present, there are over 200 Food Banks located all over Thailand.