BT60 M R&D facility our most modern

The R&D facility will analyse plant diseases and design hybrid seeds for India and other Asian countries.

The successful seed breeding and technology provider is now run by the sixth generation Hollander seed man Simon Groot, who is the chairman of East-West Seed Group and two companies in Thailand - East-West Seed ROH and East-West Seed International.

He sees business opportunities not only in Thailand but also all of Asia.

He said Thailand was the most flexible country for investing in the seed business and was a good start for investment. The firm will tomorrow introduce Asia's largest R&D centre for seed production in Chiang Mai.

The centre will become the largest private lab in Asia for providing advanced tests for vegetable seed production of the company.

The centre has been equipped with modern facilities used for inspecting marker-assisted breeding in order to identify genes with desirable qualities. This technology will allow breeders to select the best strains that resist insects and give high yields.

During the centre's grand opening with HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presiding, the company will present an anti-virus hybrid tomato called the Seeda. The tomato comes from an innovative breeding seed that resists diseases specific to the tomato fruit. The anti-virus tomato is also good for making a traditional eastern salad, "tomato som tam".

The group also breeds some non-genetically modified organisms (GMOs), such as hybrid green and red papaya seeds to support the burgeoning som tam market in the country.

The group's seeds have a special character - coloured coatings. |Each colour is designed to ward |off certain insects, which will allow seedlings to grow well without interruption from diseases and insects. This will help reduce |farmers' risk and ensure higher income.

The company's hybrid seeds are marketed locally under the Red Arrow trademark. Some successful seeds are bitter gourd, ridge gourd, super hot chilli, glutinous corn, cucumber and vegetable marrow.

Groot pointed out that the group's R&D was the key to its success. The group spends at least 40 per cent of its total income each year to support innovative development.

"We have to look ahead and keep developing; therefore, we place high concern on technology and innovation," he said.

East-West Seed's operation in Thailand was established in 1982 with only Bt40 million in capital and the goal of blending seedmanship with tropical vegetables.

With more than 25 years of experience in hybrid seeds, the firm has become the largest seed provider in the Kingdom, controlling 28 per cent of the Bt1.5-billion market.

Hybrid seeds have raised the standard of vegetable production in the country. Starting with normal seed production, the company achieved a big breakthrough in 1987 to produce hybrid seeds, which prolong the shelf life for plants, provides good resistance against disease, prevents spoilage and produces high yields.

The group has focused on five Asian countries - Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, |India, China and Thailand. Sales from the five countries average US$60 million (Bt2 billion) per year, including Bt400 million from Thailand.

Indonesia is the largest market, followed by Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, India and China. Countries with large populations hold the best opportunities for the company.

Groot projects India as the firm's largest income earner in five years due to its large population, while China would become the largest income earner in 10 years.

Thailand will still be the firm's biggest investment base for R&D and technology development for tropical seed production, serving all offices of the company.

In spite of the global financial meltdown, the seed business should roll right along, as people still have to eat, he said.

Producing high quality seeds will be a long-lasting business |to serve the increasing number |of people in the world and sup-|port farmers in growing high-quality plants to support food production.

The company has succeeded in rolling out more than 40 hybrid commercial seeds in Thailand to facilitate farmers with good crop production. However, the company has also faced intellectual property rights violations here due to the lack of a specific law to protect plant varieties.

Without a plant variety protection law, many innovative seeds of the firm and other seed providers have been counterfeited, he said.