Assisted by RFID (radio frequency identification) technology and software specially developed to support the agricultural supply chain, vendors and consumers of the scented rice will potentially be able to trace not only the origin of the grains but also where they were milled and how they were transferred before being shipped abroad.

To create additional value for this famous agricultural product, the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) plans to modernise agricultural production and its supply chain using locally developed software and RFID.

RFID uses computer chips to store data, which is then transmitted wirelessly by a tiny antenna to a receiver. The chips, embedded in tags, track pallets in warehouses and allow drivers to pass checkpoints without stopping.

Santi Suraratana, an RFID expert at Sipa, said the pilot project has been set to start in the so-called Roi-Kaen-Sarn group of provinces, which comprise Roi Et, Khon Kaen and Maha Sarakham. These three provinces produce approximately 1.5 million tonnes of the country's Jasmine rice - about 27 per cent of Thailand's total production annually.

The pilot project has a budget of approximately Bt380 million according Thawatchai Khotwong, branch manager of Sipa's Khon Kaen branch, which will be used to subsidise logistics for Jasmine rice in the three provinces.

The agency has called for collaboration from related agencies in both public and private fields as well as from academics.

To enable the effective application of the technology onto Jasmine rice production, the agency has been studying the crop's manufacturing process, supply chain and distribution as well as its logistics cycle with the help of universities in the provinces. The study calls for knowledge of the owners' business requirements in each part as well as what systems and software have already been implemented in each area.

The agency has identified six potential areas - rice mills, warehouses, rice brokers, transport, distribution centres and in-land container depots - where the use of software, back-end systems and RFID can be implemented.

Sipa's idea is to introduce locally developed software into the process while encouraging developers to build software to support the EPC (electronic product code) for the use of RFID especially.

When used with RFID, EPC can uniquely identify individual products, giving a different electronic signature to, for example, each bottle of beer coming out of a brewery. The system has the mathematical potential to number all future products as well.

The EPC standard works on ultra-high frequency (UHF) in the 860-960 megahertz band.

RFID tags communicate with an industry's database and back-end systems. For stock management the information is transmitted to a central stock database where automatic comparison with a stock profile triggers a replenishment order, giving the company a complete overview of stock management.

"This can also support the idea to turn Thailand into the 'kitchen of the world' as the move will help ensure food safety to rice consumers worldwide," said Santi.

Suchalee Pongprasert

The Nation

suchalee@nationgroup.com