Forty percent of the entire population in Thailand work in agriculture-related fields, in farmlands valued at almost $3000 per rai. It is a no-brainer that should a significant step forward be made in the overall economy, this is where it would start.
And that is where Suparatana Bencharongkul comes in.
A Love for Agriculture
Suparatana Bencharongkul is known by most to be the daughter of a billionaire tycoon. But in recent years she has proven to be much more. In charge of the Rakbankerd company, she has pioneered numerous projects and initiatives aimed solely towards improving the standards of the agricultural sector in Thailand.
But her love and passion for agriculture didn’t stem out of a vacuum. Being the daughter of billionaire and philanthropist, Boonchai Bencharongkul, the love and respect for the earth and its resources has always been a major part of Suparatana’s development.
This, alongside a genuine interest and fascination with modern technology, bred in her the desire to bring about major changes in the way the business of agriculture is being carried out in Thailand. It was never going to be an easy feat, though, and she knew it.
A New Challenge
Thailand was not just any backward agricultural country that could be fixed with just a few types of machinery. It was a thriving country that needed to be pushed to the next level it had to reach to fulfill its highest potential.
Suparatana knew what had to be done, of course, which is the advent of a new wave of technological sophistication brought about by latest, state-of-the-art gadgets equipment, and framework that will, in turn, begin to make life easier for farmers to carry out their jobs properly, thereby bringing about higher yield and efficiency for the industry and the country as a whole.
But knowing what has to be done is just one part of the equation. Knowing how to go about it, securing the resources and the structure, facing the challenges and coming out on top – those are the other, arguably more difficult, aspects of it.
An Old Challenge
And then, of course, there is the fact that as a billionaire’s daughter with an active social life, there were people who had automatically assigned failure to her project before it even started.
The bar was too high, they said, and there was no way she would be able to face all the challenges that come with actually running a company, after being raised with all the privilege she had growing up as a billionaire’s daughter.
But, undaunted, she promised to surpass all expectations.
The Breakthroughs
The journey is still long and there are still lots of things that have to be done, but at this point, it is safe to say that Suparatana, and the company which she leads, have done enough to win over doubters as to their seriousness and capabilities.
They have successfully brought about tangible growth and development in the agricultural sector, and have pioneered a wave of massive adoption of technological tools and systems as the default mode of agricultural growth in Thailand today
