The concept for the Royal Project was born, right there, at Doi Pui, as the King himself describes in a Royal Address in 1970:

‘I asked to Hmong how much a family earned in average from the selling of opium. The answer was 3,000 to 5,000 baht. When asked how much the annual selling of fruits would bring, the reply was that the local variety of peaches would bring 4,000 to 12,000 baht! It was then that we thought we had the answer. We could improve the wild fruits, such as local peaches, by grafting. We could also chose other fruits which are high-priced and in great demand, such as apples, pears and chestnuts. In fact, there are a great number of wild trees and other plants that could be used, including some medicinal herbs. These present no marketing problem. And the hill-tribes will not have to compete with the lowlands as the crops cannot successfully be grown there.’

The above is from the book ‘The peach and the opium’ of royal project foundation, Thailand.