Entomologist Asst. Prof. Chama Phankaew says the centre aims to teach the public about the lives, work and benefits of various bees as well as sustainable agricultural practices that will help preserve the bee population. “It is the product of 3 years of research and teaching by KU’s lecturers and scientists on the bee keeping industry and pollinating insects in Thailand,” she says.

Chama further explained that the centre’s biggest sponsor is Bayer AG in Germany and its Thailand subsidiary, whose CSR policy aims to provide learning channels for students and general public about sustainable agriculture and environmental preservation. “The centre is located in the university and is surrounded by several other learning centres, including the 60th Anniversary Insect Museum, the Rapee Orchid Park, and the Cricket Centre,” she added.

“Within the Bee Learning Center there are exhibitions about bees showing various species of bees found in Thailand, their influence on the ecosystem, the biology of beehives and bee keeping industry in Thailand. There is also an outdoor park filled with activities for children and parents such as bee feeding and ‘Bee Little Scientists’ where kids can learn how bees work from a model hive.”

“The centre is opens daily except on public holidays from 9am to 4pm. Every Wednesday at 9-10am, there will be bee keeping demonstration, while other activities will be held in rotation each month. You can check the calendar at facebook: Bee Learning,” Chama added.

The centre is expecting to draw lots of visitors next year especially around national children’s day (January 11) and the World Bee Day (May 20).

“Moreover, since October we have been piloting a new project called ‘CP Fresh Mart Ma Kep’, aiming to teach the right way of separating household waste for recycling in the communities around our retail shops,” he said. “The pilot shops are Yenjit , Sathorn 11 and Sathorn Condo branches, where customers can bring in 50 pieces of recyclable waste and get 10 free eggs every Wednesday between 1-4 pm.”

The project is being implemented in collaboration with GEEP, a Thai start-up with expertise in recycling and waste management. “The project has been well received by customers and we are planning to expand it to other branches in the near future,” he added.

Furthermore, to prepare customers for next year’s no plastic bags policy, CP Fresh Mart has organised several campaigns since the beginning of the year including not giving out of plastic bags on Wednesdays, selling thermos bags at a special price, as well as buying plastic bottles and recyclable waste at selected branches in Bangkok and the surrounding area.

“CPF is planning to stop using all plastic packaging by 2025 in Thailand, and by 2030 in other countries,” said Chaiyut.

The mountaintops are very cold with frost in some areas and minimum temperatures of 1-8 degrees, the Thailand Meteorological Department said on Wednesday (December 11). The Central region including Bangkok and its vicinity, and the East region, will see warmer daytime temperatures but cool nights, with minimum temperatures ranging from 14-21 degrees.

In the South, meanwhile, the moderate northeast monsoon across the Gulf will continue to whip up the waves to about 2 metres in the lower Gulf from Surat Thani southward. All ships should proceed with caution.

The weather forecast for the next 24 hours is as follows:

Northern region: Cold to very cold, lows of 7-13 degrees and highs of 25-30 degrees Celsius. Temperature likely to drop to 1-6 degrees on hilltops.

Northeastern region: Cold, lows 8-14 degrees and highs of 27-29 degrees Celsius. Temperature likely to drop to 2-8 degrees on hilltops.

Central region: Cool to cold, lows of 14-17 degrees, highs 29-32 degrees Celsius.

Eastern region: Cool, lows 16-21 degrees, highs 20-32 degree Celsius; wave height 1 metre.

Southern region (east coast): Cool with thunder showers in 10 per cent of the area, lows 19-23 degrees, highs 28-30 degrees Celsius; wave height 1-2 metres, increasing to 2 metres during storms.

Southern region (west coast): Partly cloudy; lows 22-24 degrees, highs 31-33 degree Celsius; wave height 1 metre.

Bangkok and surrounding area: Cool, lows of 17-18 degrees, highs 30-31 degrees Celsius.

“We have listed 164 hospitals as green since the price of their medicines was low,” he said. “The department is preparing a certificate for them.”

Moreover, the department has already finished categorizing the remaining hospitals as yellow or red zones, where the prices of drugs are in the range of acceptable to expensive. “At the beginning of 2020, we will hold a meeting to create guidelines for hospitals in these two groups” he added.

In addition, for those private hospitals where more than 5,000 service items are deemed as being too expensive, the department is working to come up with a cost appraisal for around 200 to 300 services..

“We expect to announce the cost appraisal in the next year and the price of medical supplies will be specified last, as there are no appraisals we can use for reference,” he added. “The medical supplies price is currently being coded and the estimated budget for this project is around Bt4 to Bt5 million.”

“Any impact on products’ prices is very small with an average around 0.006 per cent to 0.6 per cent,” he said.

The products affected by a rise of 0.6 per cent are school uniforms, vinegar, baby powder, bulbs, tyres, Portland cement, plastic bags, and chemical fertilizer. “The school uniform showed the most impact,” Whichai added.

Meanwhile, those products affected slightly or around 0.006 per cent were toothpaste, milk powder, refrigerators, small trucks, steel sheets, lubricants, pet food, and student’ shoes. “Amongst these, toothpaste showed the slightest impact” he said.

He added that the increased wage will not affect retail prices of products or cooked-to-order food.

“I have ordered provincial officers to check stores to prevent entrepreneurs from taking advantage of the increase in wages,” Whichai added. “Although some entrepreneurs have asked to increase their prices, I will absolutely not allow them to do so,” he confirmed.

Songsak Thongsri, Deputy Minister of Interior, said that the government aims to link the grassroots economy to macroeconomics and one way of doing that is through Otop, the value of which has incrementally increased since 2003, when the products had a sales value of approximately Bt50 billion.

As more products are sold, jobs and careers are created and income generated for those at the community level, thus reducing disparity and meeting the goals of economic development in the 20-year national strategic plan. The Ministry of Interior has been assigned to promote the development and trade of Otop products through the Department of Community Development as well as increasing Otop exhibitions in various parts of the country.

One of the government-sponsored events is the Otop City event, which has been held 13 times and generated more than Bt13 million in revenue over the years. This year’s event, scheduled from December 15 to 23 December at Challenger Halsl 1-3 Impact, Muang Thong Thani, is expected to see sales of at least Bt1.4 billion, 3,500 manufacturers and entrepreneurs taking part and to draw at least 500,000 people.

Pravit Sukhum, President-Office of Corporate Communications at Thai Beverage, said Otop product sales of Bt237.255 billion equivalent to results of public companies listed on the stock exchange but better since all of the income went directly back to t30 million people nationwide.

Otop sales have grown by 10-20 per cent year on year under the country’s economic growth rate of 3 per cent, which compared with the performance of the private sector under this conditions, is considered very good.

It is very cold in the mountains with frost in some areas and minimum temperatures ranging from 1-8°C. The Central region including Bangkok and its vicinity, and the East region are also forecast to stay cool, with minimum temperatures ranging from 13-20°C.

Further south meanwhile, the strong northeast monsoon across the Gulf will bring strong winds, whipping waves up to a height to 2 metres from Chumphon northwards and in the Andaman Sea, and 2-3 metres on the lower Gulf from Surat Thani southward.

People along the eastern coastline of the South should beware of inshore surges. All ships should proceed with caution, and small boats around the lower Gulf keep ashore.

The weather forecast is as follows:

Central: cool to cold with strong wind. Minimum temperature 13-17 °C, maximum temperature 28-30 °C. Northeasterly winds 15-35 km/hr.

North: cold to very cold. Minimum temperature 5-12°C, maximum temperature 25-29°C. Very cold with isolated frost on mountaintops. Minimum temperature 1-6°C. Northeasterly winds 15-35 km/hr.

Northeast: cold to very cold with strong wind. Minimum temperature 8-14 °C, maximum temperature 26-29 °C. Cold to very cold with isolated frost on mountaintops, minimum temperature 2-8 °C. Northeasterly winds 15-35 km/hr.

South, east coast: cool with strong winds. Isolated thundershowers mostly in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. Minimum temperature 18-24°C, maximum temperature 28-30°C.

South, west coast: partly cloudy and strong winds. Isolated thundershowers mostly in Krabi, Trang and Satun. Minimum temperature 22-25 °C, maximum temperature 31-34 °C. Northeasterly winds 20-35 km/hr.

However, the index continued to decrease overall as the global economy continued to slow. This, combined with such natural disasters as drought, storms and floods had caused entrepreneurs’ confidence in the trading sector to drop to 45.77.

These disasters also caused a slowdown in transportation as well as in trading and business activities. At the same time, entrepreneurs were being pressured by a highly competitive market, which meant they were unable to increase prices of products or services with a knock-on effect on their profits.

Most entrepreneurs estimate that the business situation will improve in the fourth quarter as Thailand’s tourism enters the high season. “That confidence is reflected in an index of 65.93, because they feel that the many holidays in the last quarter will possibly stimulate trade and business, as well as increasing orders and pre-orders” the president added.

Meanwhile, those entrepreneurs still expect that that the government’s stimulus measures like the ‘Eat, Shop, Spend’ scheme, can help spur people’s spending, and will show positive effects in the fourth quarter.

“Households have been cautious about spending, while business competition has been very aggressive” said Chatchai. “These factors played a major role in the decreased sales of products and services this year, resulting in economic confidence to be lower than expected.”