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Assoc Prof Dr Werasak Udomkichdecha, director of MTEC said there are 1.24 million rais of land under vegetable and fruit cultivation in Thailand, of which only 650 rai are under greenhouse covering.

He said the new type of plastic covering for greenhouses would reduce heat by up to three degrees Celsius to combat the effects of global warming. It will help farmers improve crop yields, and was developed in partnership with Naresuan University and the Royal Project Foundation.

"Also, Thailand is the world's largest exporter of tropical orchids with exports valued at Bt2.5 billion and shares 35 per cent of the global market. This gives PolyTech Plastic the potential, if properly commercialised, to increase the value of just our orchid exports by hundreds of millions of baht," he said.

"Overall, it could lift the value of our country's agricultural output by around Bt10 billion through wider use of greenhouse covering and improved productivity."

 PolyTech Plastic was developed to substitute for expensive imports that were beyond the reach of Thai farmers. It will be 75 per cent cheaper than the foreign version.

Werasak said this will mean hundreds of thousands of Thai farm¬ers will now be able to afford this new technology, allowing them to grow more expensive crops, improve their yields, as well as have the option to plant a wider range of crops and vegetables that need cooler temperatures and which may give farmers a better return.

"Being able to grow certain fruits and vegetables out of season can increase the prices that farmers can get for their crops by two or three times," he noted.

Dr Jittiporn Kruenate, senior researcher at MTEC, said the temperature inside traditional greenhouses is getting too high and starting to damage crops and reduce overall yields. Farmers in Isaan are especially vulnerable to this danger," she said.

MTEC is under the National Science and Technology Development Agency.