A Healthy Approach to Nature

The main entrance to Bang Dong Bang organic farm

Swiftly but carefully, the worker cuts delicate leaves from a tree, placing them in a woven bamboo basket at her feet. The leaves will later be gently dried, then delivered to nearby Chao Phya Abhaibhubejr Hospital in Thailand’s province of Prachinburi, just about a two-hour drive east of the capital Bangkok. At a newly-built manufacturing facility attached to the hospital with the difficult name (pronounced as: chao paya apai-poo-bet) the leaves will be ground into a fine powder and become the main ingredient in a dietary vitamin supplement, as they are rich in natural vitamin C.
Thailand’s tropical landscape features an abundance of native plants whose leaves, flowers, fruits, barks and roots were used by locals for centuries to concoct remedies for a wide range of ailments. That lush flora used to be nature’s very own pharmacy. But with the advent of modern, chemically synthesized drugs, traditional knowledge became largely forgotten. Modern medicines may be more convenient and more potent than their natural counterparts, but all too often also bring on sometimes considerable side effects.

Thai hospital spearheads manufacture of natural remedies and personal care products, while benefitting a local farming community

However, in 1998 the hospital’s head pharmacist Supaporn Pitiporn, who had for decades campaigned for a revival of the ancient knowledge, decided to establish an experimental farm for cultivating medicinal shrubs and trees. Their various parts could later be incorporated into a variety of herbal remedies and even personal care products. It may be surprising to learn that even the most common plants can impart medicinal properties. For example, the pods of the humble chili plant, extensively used particularly in Thai cuisine, contain capsaicine, the very substance that puts a diner’s tongue on fire and lets them break out in sweat. But when used in an ointment or cream, capsaicine has been clinically proven to effectively relieve muscle pain and, in higher concentration, even arthritis. Alfalfa grass, often seen as little more than an unwanted weed, is a rich source of vitamins A, B, D, E and G and also minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and potassium. As a tea or ingested in capsule or tablet form it is a valuable food supplement. The thick, purple peels of mangosteen fruit are usually discarded in the trash bin or end up on the compost heap. But the rind actually contains garcidine, a compound with antiseptic and anti-oxidant properties comparable to iodine. It can be used in the manufacture of anything from soaps to skin lotions and even toothpaste. The list could go on indefinitely with plants like citronella, ginger, angel grass (Beijing grass), mulberry, and many others.

‘Many villagers couldn’t cope with that and returned to growing familiar rice and vegetables, unfortunately together with the soil and ground water-poisoning practice of chemical fertilization’

To realize her vision, Supaporn Pitiporn got in touch with the local farming community of Ban Dong Bang and presented her idea. The premise was to veer away from monoculture rice farming and instead engage in cultivating a broad range of native plants to supply the hospital’s pharmacy department with much needed raw materials. The chief pharmacist’s suggestion fell on open ears and initially 220 village households agreed to give it a try. However, little more than one year later, all but 11 households had abandoned the project. This was not only due to the stringent organic farming protocol on which the chief pharmacist insisted, but also the time-consuming preparation period needed to get the experimental farm up and running.
“The pledged land had to remain vacant for a whole year to allow the soil to rid itself of chemical fertilizer residues, which we previously had used in copious amounts,” said Tipaporn Khunsri, headwoman of the project farm. “Secondly, a lot of time had to be spent on propagating saplings and planting seeds. That effectively meant no income for a long period. Many villagers couldn’t cope with that and returned to growing familiar rice and vegetables, unfortunately together with the soil and ground water-poisoning practice of chemical fertilization,” she added.

‘Rice farmers take their water from often polluted canals for free, but we must resort to artesian well water to upkeep our organic farming principles’

Better way of life

In the meantime, the farm is in full swing, and the steadfast families who decided to stick with the project uniformly assert that their ways of life have turned for the better and that they are content and happy. It is not hard to see the reason for this bliss once one wanders into the ample farming grounds, now comprising some 40,000 square metres. The place is a lush, wild, seemingly unrestrained Garden Eden, where a myriad of different plants intermingle with each other just as freely as Mother Nature had intended. The bad habit of monoculture is far removed from this paradise enclave, although that doesn’t mean that chaos rules. Villagers still involved in the project know exactly at which spot which plants grow, where a certain species of trees stands, which path to take in order to reach the lemon grass patch.

Harvesting leaves

Chief pharmacist Supaporn Pitiporn also has set up a meticulous cultivation and harvesting plan. Although the wilderness seems to suggest otherwise, nothing here grows by chance. “The hospital lets us know sometimes months in advance how many kilos of a certain type of fruit, leaf, root or tuber they will need, and we get to work and grow it accordingly,” explains Tipaporn. Purchasing prices are pre-agreed and fixed. “For example, depending on the quality of Beijing grass [a.k.a. Angel grass, Peking grass] required, we will be paid between 150 and 650 Thai Baht per kilogram [USD 5 – 22] of dried produce,” Tipaporn elaborates. This price of course exceeds by a multiple the current wholesale price of, say, unmilled rice.
But while Tipaporn announces for the umpteenth time that her community is content with the arrangement and that the communal farm provides a comfortable income for everybody, she also hints at the much higher costs that tag along with growing organic produce. “We are not permitted to use chemical fertilizer of any kind, so we are required to obtain natural fertilizer in the form of compost. Much of that we can produce here on the farm, but sometimes we have to order compost from outside,” she says. The water needed to irrigate the crops is another expense. “Rice farmers take their water from often polluted canals for free, but we must resort to artesian well water to upkeep our organic farming principles.” Although the community has drilled several artesian wells, the water drawn from these is occasionally not sufficient enough and additional water has to be delivered by tank truck from someplace else. “Maintaining this sort of organic farming and ensuring that all crops are grown pollutant and chemical-free is not cheap, but is absolutely necessary to assure the high quality demanded by the hospital,” Tipaporn stresses.

The organized wilderness that is Ban Dong Bang organic farm

The most commonly used method to process the harvest is drying. The farm has built several large sheds where more delicate plant parts like tree leaves, grasses, but also some fruit peels are desiccated on long, airy racks. For fleshier, more robust produce like some tubers, barks and thick rinds, a couple of large drying ovens is deployed. “Oven-drying is imperative for some raw materials to speed up the process and prevent the growth of moulds and bacteria in our hot and humid climate,” explains Tipaporn.

Rigorous testings

In any case, all produce delivered undergoes rigorous microbiological and chemical testing in the hospital’s modern manufacturing facility, opened some two years ago. The in-house lab utilizes state-of-the-art technology like Thin Layer Chromatography and High Performance Liquid Chromatography to check the marker substances, potency and quality consistency of delivered produce. Further tests are used to confirm that all raw materials are 100 percent pesticide-free. “There are currently approximately 3,000 factories in Thailand who manufacture what they label as ‘natural’ or ‘herbal’ products, but of these only 25 have been awarded ACT certification, including our facility,” says Wachana Tungkwampian, a pharmacist. ACT is the acronym for ‘Agricultural Certification of Thailand’, an IFOAM-accredited body overseeing agricultural standards, including organic farming procedures. “Manufacturers are denied ACT certification if their products are not genuinely natural and organic, because they might use some ingredients that are contaminated or otherwise non-compliant with the strict regulations,” she elaborates.

‘Manufacturers are denied ACT certification if their products are not genuinely natural and organic, because they might use some ingredients that are contaminated or otherwise non-compliant with the strict regulations’

Depending on the final product, the raw materials are further processed in the factory under strict hygienic conditions. While one apparatus may extract essential oils, another will grind dried plant parts down to the fineness needed. Meticulously trained technicians mix ingredients according to carefully established recipes. The array of sophisticated machinery at the plant has a daily capacity of 500,000 herbal capsules or conventional tablets, 2,000 tea sachets, 5,000 bottles of beverages and 3,000 units of personal care items like shampoos, lotions, liquid soap and creams. In line with its dedication to environmental protection, the facility commits production waste either to the hospital’s incinerator or its own activated sludge treatment system.

Microbiological testing

The broad range of different products are marketed under the hospital’s registered ‘Abhaibhubejr’ trademark. “We even have devised a line of pet care products,” Wachana points out. “Did you know that a dog shampoo based on citronella extract is enormously effective against lice and ticks?” While a large part of the output is sold directly to local customers via the brand’s website, particularly the personal care and pet care items have met with considerable interest from abroad. “We currently export assorted products to Germany, Vietnam, the U.S. and Japan,” explains Wachana, proudly hinting at the existence of a shop in Fukuoka that has integrated ‘Abhaibhubejr’ into their stock. “The shop calls itself ‘Moo Ban Shop’ and specializes in Thai products,” she says. “But we also have recently opened our very first dedicated ‘Abhaibhubejr’ boutique in Tokyo, and sales have proven brisk. The Japanese are very conscious about genuinely natural products.” Asked whether she might be a little concerned that the brand name ‘Abhaibhubejr’ may not necessarily sink in well with foreigners, who find it difficult to pronounce and remember, Wachana smiled. “I don’t think so. After all, it’s important what’s in the bottle or jar, not what’s written on the brand logo. And if you buy ‘Abhaibhubejr’ you show style and can consider yourself an ‘insider’, someone who looks beyond the brand name and appreciates what really counts.”