Her Majesty Queen Sirikit The Queen Mother always traveled at the side of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great to visit local people in various rural areas of the country. Her Majesty noticed that many people in rural areas subsisted on insufficient food, making them unable to lead an active and healthy life. The situation frequently led to the destruction of forests and other natural resources so that people could make a living.

During her visit to local people at Ban Na Pa Paek village in Mueang District, Mae Hong Son Province, in February 2000, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit expressed her concern about environmental degradation and remarked that the world in the future would face more and more environmental problems, including food shortages, owing to the increasing world population. Her Majesty then asked officials in Mae Hong Son to launch a food bank project to create more food sources in an effort to ensure food security.

At the initiative of Her Majesty, the first community food bank was established at Ban Na Pa Paek in March 2000. The concept of this project is to build up additional food sources for communities by promoting agricultural productivity, animal raising, and fish farming.

One year later, in February 2001, Her Majesty visited this food bank to view the progress of the project. The operation was found to be progressing well and Her Majesty was satisfied with the fruitful results. Her Majesty cited the Ban Na Pa Paek food bank as a model to be used for developing food banks elsewhere. Food banks were later set up in other provinces, as well, such as Chiang Mai, Phrae, Phayao, Tak, Ratchaburi, and Kanchanaburi. All food banks focus on organic farming and forest conservation.

In a speech given to well-wishers on the eve of her 70th birthday, 11 August 2002, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit said that she initiated the food bank project because she was concerned about the world environment. Her Majesty had learned from information released by the United Nations that the world might face food shortages in the future because of the growing population and worsening environmental issues. In order that Thailand would be prepared to cope with the situation, Her Majesty came up with the project, which, if established in various areas, would dispel people’s fears about expensive food and ease the hardships of the poor.

The objective of the project is to produce enough food for domestic consumption, while the surplus will be sold in order for local people to earn more income. In this connection, forest areas would be developed into food sources, thus encouraging people to replant forests and protect natural resources.