The Rice Department plans the commercial launch of a new fragrant rice strain, Kor Khor 33 or Ubon 80. The first 20 tonnes of the seed will be on sale over the next few months to cash in on the coming main-crop harvesting season, said Poonsak Mekwatanakarn, director of the Ubon Ratchathani Rice Research Centre.

Developed from Dok Mali 105, Kor Khor 3 is ideal for the northeast. Highly resistant to droughts and diseases, especially bacterial blights, the variety grows well even in sandy soil or loam with few nutrients. Notably, it is less sensitive than Hom Mali to seasonal changes in the length of the day, enabling up to three crops a year.

Such qualities could meet needs of farmers in the north and northeast, where most can grow only one crop a year due to poor seed and soil quality. Droughts and insufficient irrigation are also major impediments to crop expansion.

According to Mr Poonsak, several trial plots have been conducted in different provinces over the past few years including at a 50-rai plot in Chaiyaphum where leaf blight is a serious problem.

Farmers have expressed satisfaction with the new seed thanks to its high productivity of up to 500 kilogrammes per rai, high percentage of amylose and a shorter harvesting period, at about 130 days per crop, he said.

The research centre plans to launch more fragrant hybrid rice varieties this year and many could improve yields and earnings. He dismissed complaints by some rice exporters about poor investment in breed research and productivity improvement. Exporters also claim having too many varieties has steadily undermined the unique aromatic quality of Thai Hom Mali.

"In fact, the department has done constant R&D on rice breeds. We are able to get high productivity breeds that could yield up to a tonne of paddy per rai but the grain could lose some qualities such as shorter kernel and aroma," he said. "I suggest the government have many grades of fragrant rice, similar to white rice, which has many grades, to meet different market demands."

Thailand last year shipped 2 million tonnes of fragrant rice, about 1.5 million tonnes of which were premium grade Hom Mali.

The Rice Department plans to produce and sell between 95,000 and 100,000 tonnes of rice seeds to farmers nationwide. The volume is far short of the total demand, of about 1 million tonnes per year for 57-58 million rai of plantations.

Private companies such as CP Intertrade, Pioneer and Bayer also supply hybrid rice seed but the prices are four times higher than for seeds provided by the department.

Source: ฺBangkok Post