IN BRIEF
Agriculture: Maize prices soar as supplies dwindle
Maize growers are enjoying higher prices, due to supply reductions after farmers abandoned the crop to grow more cassava and sugar cane as raw materials for ethanol production.
The Office of Agricultural Economics reported yesterday the country's rising demand for alternative fuels, as well as the government's policy to encourage usage of gasohol (a mixture of petrol and ethanol), has prompted high demand for materials used in ethanol.Local maize prices averaged Bt5.16 per kilogram in September. Prices have gradually increased every year from an average of Bt2.52 per kilogram in 1987, to Bt4.4 in 1997 and Bt4.78 last year. Higher prices have resulted in higher incomes for the country's 300,000 maize farmers, who earned Bt4.81 billion last year. Maize exports grew to Bt459 million during the first eight months of this year, compared with Bt348 million in all of last year. Greater Mekong: Tourist arrivals increase in region The countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) have reported strong increases in tourist arrivals. The Pacific Asia Travel Association said official figures showed that Cambodia's international visitor arrivals rose 19.2 per cent to 813,392 in the first six months of the year from the same period last year. Lao PDR arrivals increased 15 per cent in the first four months, Burma 7.3 per cent in the first six months and Vietnam 7 per cent in the first seven months. Thailand's increase of 47.5 per cent in the first six months of the year was due to the low base effect created by the December 2004 tsunami. Foreign arrivals to China increased 6.1 per cent in the six months ended June 30. "The emerging destinations of the GMS are growing faster than many mature destinations due to the catch-up factor. Airport upgrades, new flights, visas on arrival and ease of access from efficient gateway hubs such as Bangkok also help," said Stephen Yong, executive director of the Mekong Tourism Office. "The novelty of visiting so-called new destinations will continue to drive eye-catching growth for the Mekong region for the foreseeable future." Ecology: Biological pesticide use expands at farms The National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards is planning to standardise biological control agents on farms to develop them for commercial purposes and meet international requirements. Somchai Charnnarongkul, deputy director of the bureau, said that farmers had started using more biological control agents and fewer chemicals. Popular biological control agents used on farms - Trichoderma harzianum, Bacillus thuringiensis, Asecodes hispinarum, Steinernema carpocapsae and virus NPV - will reduce chemical residues in farm products. Due to rising demand, the bureau has concentrated on the manufacturing process of biological control agents: storage, transportation, labelling and packaging. Somchai said draft biological control agent standards would be completed in the near future to ensure implementation next year. The volume of biological control agents reached 79,251 tonnes worth Bt10.07 billion during the first eight months of this year.
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