Implementation of Government Policy for Promotion of Community Herbal Products: A Case Study of a Community Enterprise Group in Maha Sarakham Thailand

Abstract

This article purposes to study the implementation of the herbal product promotion policy for the government practice in Maha Sarakham. The study was the qualitative research. The instruments were the observation list, the Interviews and the participatory focus groups. There were 20 participants which were the leaders of community enterprises, herb growers, academics, executives and policy developers, public and private organizations. The data were analyzed through the document information and descriptive analysis. The study found that using the policy  for promoting the herbal products in Maha Sarakham, the process began when the province adopted the policy after the central government announced the National Herb Master Plan 2017 (2017-2021). There were 2 levels of the process; 1) the provincial level, there were strategies for promoting herbs as Herbal City which choosing Communities or the skillful community enterprises who were capable to be developed. The herbal products which could produce, did the process, prepared the package and market channel and followed up and evaluated the performance, and 2) at the community level, the herbal growers community enterprise group had been promoted to develop herbs. Each group had a different level of development of herbal production processes due to different readiness potentials such as raw materials, herbal baking, modern packaging, market and revenue channels as well as administrative constraints on the local government organizations, personnel and budget.