andOn August 8, 2024, at 8.30 A.M., at the conference room of Department of Corrections Headquarters, Mr. Sahakarn Petchnarin, the Director General of the DOC, Mr. Somchuan Rattanamangkhalanont, Director of Department of Livestock Development (DLD), Mr. Atthaporn Sriherun, Director General of The Zoological Park Organization of Thailand (ZPOT), and Mr. Charnvit Anakesampan, President of CGKD Company Limited, arrived to sign the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote the cultivation of Napier grass as a form of prisoner vocational training. The ceremony was presided by Police Colonel Tawee Sodsong, the Minister of Justice, and Mr. Atthakorn Sirilatthayakorn, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives. The ceremony was attended by DOC HQ executives, directors, and officers along with directors of associated prison and correctional institution.
In the ceremony, there were multiple prisoner made product exhibition booths from the Khoktaban Temporary Prison of Surin Central Prison, Khao Prik Agricultural Industrial Correctional Institution, and Hab Phoei shop, along with real Napier grass plants showcased.
This Campaign is a collaboration of the DOC, DLD, ZPOT, and CGKD Company Limited, to be implemented as a vocational training program for inmates to be released, to foster them an innovative job skill, as Napier grass has great use in agricultural field, whether to be food for several animals, including cats and elephants, or can be processed as good fertilizers, as it is much higher than average grasses in protein, while training the inmates to be knowledgable on agriculture as well.