Encompassing 15 rai – a tiny part of the 2,500-rai plot which locates a teak forestation project, a resort and others – the learning centre has accumulated all the knowledge a community should want to garner.

“It is part of our group’s CSR (corporate social responsibility),” said Kriengluck Naruethep, Betagro Group’s assistant vice president for food complex, resort management office. “It’s our aim to put all ideas of sustainable development into one place to benefit communities.”

For children, the tour starts with a short movie, featuring a grandpa and his grandson who is busy playing with his electronic device. “Come here. I will tell you about a village where people do not have a device like that but they can live happily,” the grandpa says, beginning his story about the sufficiency village.

This will be followed by a tour. Behind the building are the 10 knowledge bases, some actually adopted in the supply chain of Betagro which is a major livestock and agroindustry company. The tour starts with the experimental rice plantation fields, where adults learn how to increase yields and children enjoy learning about insects found in the fields.

A foul smell is assured near the biogas base where household wastes are turned into gas. Available next are tips on raising hen eggs, how to turn used vegetable oil into biodiesel, and how to convert discarded wood into high-quality charcoal while concurrently producing organic fertilizer in the process.

One section is devoted to pigs. Demonstrated here are the dry pens, floored with dry leaves and covered by rice husks. According to Tukta, the learning centre officer, once the pigs are mature enough to be sold, normally in about 3 months, the leaves and rice husks turn perfectly into high-quality fertilisers. Here one set is enough for 16 of them and after each 3-month round, the centre has tonnes of fertilizer.

“The benefit of using the Moo Lum technique is there is no smell. Any household can apply this at home, without bothering their neighbours. Plus, they will have good fertilizers,” she said.

Some of the fertilizer goes to the vegetable plantations nearby, along with the leftovers from the hen base. Covering 300 square wa, the plantations grow about 20 types of vegetables. Do not be surprised to see marigolds around the area. Tukta said they help reduce nematode that is harmful to vegetables. Meanwhile, to protect some vegetables from worms, those which worms enjoy (like Chinese cabbage) should be grown next to foul-smelling ones (like holy basil). A graduate with a degree in agriculture from Khon Kaen University, Tukta was pleased to show how sustainable agriculture could be.

“Here, we want to tell people that we don’t need to use chemicals in nurturing vegetables and keeping insects away. Natural approaches are the best,” she said.

Tukta, one of six officers here, said the plantations generated a sizeable income for the centre, about Bt9,000 monthly. Some produce is supplied to the resort’s kitchen and the centre also receives orders from people living nearby.

As they walk forward, visitors may smile when seeing a bucket on top of a slim cement pole. On top of it is a spigot. Looking closely, they will see the plastic water tap. The idea, is whenever you wash your hands here, the water goes directly to where it will be useful. In the area, there are many such vegetables and fruit which cover nearly every inch of free space.

“Our main purposes is with these tips, villagers can raise their income and conserve the environment. They can live in a sufficient way.

“We know all about sufficiency philosophy. But if we don’t take action, this will never happen,” Tukta said.

At the end of the tour, visitors should not miss the souvenir shop. Fresh farm produce is available, along with local products sourced from nearby communities, including a school for the blind.

Opened in 2012, in that year the learning centre opened its doors to 930 visitors who were mostly students. Last year, the visitors swelled to 9,710, encompassing farmers, local civil servants, Betagro Group’ employees and some tourists.

Both Kriengluck and Tukta are pleased with what the group can do for communities. They praised Vanus Taepaisitphongse, chief executive officer of Betagro Group, who is convinced that sustainable growth requires a long-term contribution to the development of society and local communities as well as the preservation of the environment.