The Interpretation of Miang Tea to the International Level for Mapping Agro-Tourism Routes

The rationale and objectives of the project

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          Regardless its medical ability and environmental friendliness, Miang tea or Assam tea plantation has been currently declining. This tea plants are required to take place under large, shady trees, unlike other kinds of plant agriculture where farmers tend to cut down other species of floras to create space for their plots. The soaring ecotourism has brought tourists and travelers to have more interests on the nature, agriculture, and local lifestyle. The researchers, therefore, decided to support this local wisdom of Miang tree plantation and agrotourism, while the interpretation of agrotourism needs to be studied further in order to support tourists’ behaviors, combining the interpretation of tourism with cooperation from the agriculturists, local wisdom members, and community members, to create tourism routes which give the Rueang Community, Muang, Nan an ability to become a meaningful and valuable tourist attraction. 

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The project takes place on Baan Tawaen and Baan Srinapan communities – from the “upsteam” or the Miang Tea Seedling Nursery Center where it all began, to the “downsteam”, the Miang Tea Processing and Learning Center. Through signs on the route, Miang tea plantation wisdom is displayed as a pilot sample for other tourist attractions while planting the awareness of Miang tea variety conservation and maintaining the inherited wisdom of Thai ancestors from disappearing over time. Once the project receives more supports, this could be an ongoing program to be developed in the national level with the goal of creating security, prosperity, and sustainability – former King Bhumibhol’s initiatives on the concept of self-reliance for agriculturists - led by the philosophy of sustainable economy (Self-reliance). 

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