Guidelines for Preserving the Local Wisdom of Palm Sugar Making, Khe Chai Sub-district, Chum Saeng District, Nakhon Sawan Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research article were 1) to study the local wisdom of sugar making of Koei Chai subdistrict, Chum Saeng District, Nakhon Sawan Province; and 2) to present guidelines for preserving the local wisdom of sugar making of Koei Chai subdistrict, Chum Saeng District, Nakhon Sawan Province. It was a qualitative research. Data were collected by in-depth interviews with 20 key informants divided into 4 groups: villagers, local leaders, government officials and a group of local sages. Descriptive Content Analysis Techniques were used. The results of the research revealed that 1) the Koei Chai community had a long history of wisdom preservation, inherited from ancestors with the abundance of natural resources. And there was an inheritance and development of palm sugar to come out in a variety of forms, whether it was sugar candy toddy, palm wine, fresh sugar, palm sugar, palm kernel (chao tan), toddy palm, etc.; and 2) guidelines for preserving the local wisdom of making sugar of Koei Chai subdistrict, Chum Saeng District, Nakhon Sawan Province currently had various institutions come to study and acquire knowledge from the above local knowledge. And there were agencies at the local level to carry on local traditions or culture, such as Wai Kru Tan tradition, sugar palm tree raising tradition, sugar eating competition, palm sugar products were promoted and processed into OTOP products in order to generate additional income for the community.