Thailand Launches Poverty-Fighting Sandbox in Roi Et
Thailand launched a poverty-fighting initiative in Roi Et using science and innovation to target assistance at the household level, with plans to expand nationwide if successful.
Deputy Prime Minister Yasothon Wongswat and Social Development Minister Nikom Somklang launched the "Five-Dimensional Poverty Alleviation and Social Status Elevation Plan" in sandbox format in Roi Et province on July 18, using science, research, and innovation as precision tools to combat poverty down to the household level. If successful, the program will expand nationwide, with senior officials from both ministries, local administrators, and Roi Et parliamentarians participating.
Yasothon explained that the sandbox's core is real-world implementation using a comprehensive Provincial Poverty Alleviation Platform (PPAP) centered on local universities and linked with provincial, local, civil society, and state agencies at all levels. The PPPConnext system has already identified and verified 1,243,449 poor individuals from 303,444 households across 20 provinces, analyzing problems across five capital dimensions: human, physical, financial, natural, and social capital.
To date, the research program has developed over 458 poverty-alleviation models generating income for 179,370 poor people, increasing total earnings by 979 million baht. Some 3,638 scalable technologies cover food processing, fishing, agriculture, and material value-added sectors, deployed through a network of over 70 university development centers nationwide. In Roi Et specifically, Roi Et Rajabhat University identified 53,795 poor households and implemented a "precision agriculture" vegetable-farming model in Kaset Wisai and Muang Roi Et districts using IoT sensors and automated drip irrigation, benefiting 514 households with average monthly income increases of 3,414 baht and reducing debt for 44.5 percent of farmers.
