"His Majesty The King once related to an audience at the Chitrlada Palace that the Royal Project originated as a result of his private travels." While visiting Chiang Mai during the cold season in 1964, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyaej had the opportunity to personally observe the living conditions of the villagers and the hill tribe people on the mountain areas, noting that they earned their living by cultivating rice for their own consumption as well as growing opium using slash-and-burn methods. This was not only extremely detrimental to the environment, but also more importantly the drug had spread from the villages into the cities and had become the national problem during those days. His Majesty the King stated that "if we want the hill tribe people to stop growing opium, we need to find other crops which are suitable to grow on the highlands and yield more income, for them to substitute the opium growing." Following His Majesty's statement, the "Hilltribe Support Royal Project" was started in 1969, and His Serene Highness Prince Bhisatej Rajani was appointed Chairman of the Royal Project. During the initial phases of the project, much co-operation had been received from many organizations, especially the Kasetsart University which provided assistance in researching for crops suitable to the local climate. Assistance had also been received from many government agencies and other foreign countries, such as the United States of America, and the Republic of China (Taiwan), which have been providing financial support since 1973 up to present.
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