Driving health economic & herbal city policy in Roi Et Province Raising the quality of planting standards Process herbal raw materials and herbal products to increase economic value

Abstract

Purposes: To study the situation, model development, and evaluation of the model for driving the health economy and herbal city policy in Roi Et Province.

Study Design: Research and Development Research (R&D).

Materials and Methods: The research was divided into 3 phases: Phase 1: Study the situation, with the researcher as a mentor team consisting of 15 relevant government officials and 15 herbal farmers in Roi Et Province. The research instruments were group discussions and in-depth interviews. Phase 2: Model development, with the original researcher group, divided into 2 steps: Step 1: Creating a participation network and finding a model for driving the health economy and herbal city policy in Roi Et Province; and Step 2: Implementing the process according to the developed model, using the Deming Circle in the research process for 2 cycles. Phase 3: Model evaluation, with a sample group of 200 herbal farmers using a questionnaire. The research period was from December 2023 to December 2024. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. And quantitative using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, including Paired t-test.

Main findings: The following issues were found: Lack of understanding and community participation, Model development, Appropriate management, Budget and infrastructure constraints, Standard and safety control, Lack of research and development, Promotion and development of entrepreneurs and personnel skills, Marketing and market access. Therefore, a model was developed by creating a participation network and finding    a model for driving the health economy policy and the herbal city of Roi Et Province, which received the training course “Roi Et Herbal Training Program” and the “Handbook for the Development and Upgrading of Herbal Plants in the Roi Kaen Sarasin Group” to increase the potential of mentors and training to provide knowledge to herbal farmers and create networks together with making a cooperation agreement. After the model development, it was found that farmers had more knowledge and understanding than before the training by 50.83 percent and were highly satisfied with the model.

Conclusion and recommendations: The developed model should be adapted and expanded to other areas and further studies should be conducted on the factors affecting the success of herbal city development, including continuous monitoring and evaluation of the operation.