Soil doctor volunteers of Land Development Department and their participation in natural resources management                     Improper land utilization results in soil degradation and poor living condition of farmers (about 30 million people in Thailand). Soil degradation reduces crop yields and farmers’ income. Soil erosion, the most severe soil problem of which restoration is urgently needed, is found in 134 million rai or 41% of total areas in Thailand. Soil without organic matter covers 98 million rai or 30% of total areas in Thailand. Problem occurred from soil condition together with human action such as saline soil, acid soil, peat soil and sandy soil covers 192 million rai. In the fact that only 2,000 staff of Land Development Department is not enough for implementing soil management and improvement, farmers and local people are ,therefore, encouraged to participate in soil resource maintenance. Who is the soil doctor volunteer ?                     According to the policy of Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, “soil doctor volunteers” have been established to carry on soil management in each village since 1995. At present, there are 55,000 soil doctor volunteers acted as representatives of LDD in each village. They are in charge of coordinating of land development between farmers in the village and LDD, transferring new technology to their neighbours and participating in activities of LDD, for example – to conduct the demonstration plot for vetiver propagation.                     Nowadays, several projects have to be launched by LDD such as the agriculturalist maintenance project after recess, the information technology service to small district project, the increase of production potential project, the project of farmers’ occupation development in irrigation areas and natural water sources improvement to be production source of the communities. Participation from farmers and local people is needed in such projects especially in the part of information survey of household/person. Since only governmental officers and staff of LDD are not enough to perform those activities, soil doctor volunteers are encouraged to take part in.                     Soil doctor volunteer project was established by LDD in order to enlarge the network, improve the efficiency of soil doctor volunteer to be able to support the work of LDD and government. Personal data of all soil doctor volunteers has been updated in digital system. The network of soil doctor volunteers in districts is established and represented of LDD in supporting other projects according to the policy of Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives including the improvement and development of soil doctor volunteers’ network in other areas.