FAO booth and stand at the Chiang Mai exhibition in December 2011

Invited to participate in the International Horticultural Exposition Royal Flora Rachaphreuk 2011 by the department of agriculture of the Thai ministry of agriculture and cooperatives, FAO showcased key achievements and issues related to sustainable agriculture through a small exhibition at the Expo Center 2 during the period 14 to 26 December 2012.

The main concepts of the Royal Flora 2011, 3Gs – generation, garden and greenitude – and 3Rs – reuse, reduce and recycle – were targeted to educate students and youth on the importance of planting trees with a stronger sense of responsibility towards a greener and healthier environment, at the same time helping to solve the problems associated to climate change.

These themes fit in well with a recently launched FAO policymakers’s guide to the sustainable intensification of smallholder crop production – commonly known as the Safe and grow strategy, advocating a new paradigm of agriculture: sustainable intensification means a productive agriculture that conserves and enhances natural resources.

Agriculture that uses an ecosystem approach that draws on nature’s contribution to crop growth and applies appropriate external inputs at the right time, in the right amount.

While farmers face unprecedented constraints, in order to grow, agriculture must learn to save; and FAO aims over the next 15 years to assist developing countries in adopting save and grow policies and approaches.

The FAO booth also displayed posters illustrating prestigious FAO medals bestowed to His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen of Thailand, and other FAO activities inAsiaand the Pacific region. In this occasion, background material and leaflets were distributed to the manyfold visitors to the FAO stand.

The Royal Flora Rachaphreuk 2011 was located on 80 hectares of land at the Royal Agricultural Research Center in Mae Hia sub-district, Mueang district of Chiang Mai.

The event featured international gardens from nations such as Belgium, Bhutan, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea. More than 2.5 million trees representing the bio-diversity of 2 200 species of tropical plants and flowers were presented at the exhibition.

The closing ceremony of the exhibition was held on 14 March 2012 with magnificent celebrations for the birthdays of His Majesty the King, Her Majesty the Queen, and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Chumpol Silapa-archa, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism and sports attended as well as ambassadors, executives from the public and private sectors, and major sponsors.

During the three months of the exposition, about 2.2 million people visited the Expo, generating over 10 000 million Thai Baht in revenue.