Thailand plans to build a new fully integrated rice research centre to strengthen research and development to cope with future challenges to the country's most important crop.

The centre will be a venue to produce more researchers, whose number is still very small and insufficient to meet the challenges of a sector that employs 4 million farm households and generates 170 billion baht in export income.

The centre, to be built from 2011-13 in the same compound as the Suphan Buri Rice Research Centre at a cost of 700 million baht, would have facilities to develop grains with stronger properties, including state-of-the art research and laboratory units, and a greenhouse pilot farm, in which temperature, water, and light will be controlled to ensure paddy growth.

Agriculture Minister Theera Wongsamut said that the centre would be a place for specialists in the region to carry out innovations to improve the grain to face threats such as pests, drought and floods.

Most importantly, officials hope that more new researchers will be developed locally.

Based on the study of the S&T Postgraduate Education and Research Development Office, there were about 200 to 300 researchers, 50 of whom were trained from 1967-97 in cooperation between the Thai Agriculture Ministry and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based in the Philippines.

Pongthep Akratanakul, the office's director, noted that fewer than 10 experts with doctorate or master's degrees specialising in rice graduate each year from local universities.

He estimates that the country might need up to 1,030 rice researchers in the next 10 years to work for state agencies, universities and private corporations.

Rice experts also support the government's initiative to seek more co operation from the IIRRI to help draft strategic plans of the new research centre in addition to supporting the development of new strains.

Nipon Poapongsakorn, president of the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), said that IRRI had provided strong and steady assistance for Thailand for decades, including the development of the popular Kor Khor rice strain.

Thailand is the world's major rice producer at about 30 million tonnes of paddy a year, bit its spending on R&D is very low at about 200 million baht a year set aside for the Rice Department, or about seven baht per tonne.

The agency also suggested the government establish a rice research fund to support sustainable growth for the industry and improve the competitiveness of Thai rice exports.

The IRRI has encouraged countries in Asia to put at least $120 million a year from now to 2030 into increasing production by an average of 8.5% a year in order to ensure stable world rice supply.

Source: Bangkok Post