Dr. Prem Nath, Assistant Director-General of FAO and FAO Regional Representative for Asia and Pacific
Dr. Anthony Tse, President of Asia and Pacific Seed Association
Mr. Chavalvut Chainuvat, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Agricultural Extension
Dr. William Fiebig, Seed Security Officer of the Seed and Plant Genetic Resources Service of FAO
Members of the Organizing Committee
Distinguished Delegates and Participants
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great pleasure to preside over the opening ceremony of the FAO Regional Meeting on Seed Policy and Programmes for Asia and the Pacific today. I am also very proud and happy that Thailand has been given an honor to host and organize such a significant meeting for the Asia and Pacific region. I also thank the Seed and Plant Genetic Resources Service of FAO for their concern and foresight which makes this meeting possible. On behalf of the Royal Thai Government, I would like to welcome you all to Thailand and wish you a pleasant stay throughout the period of this meeting.
Seed is a basic component, but extremely essential, for agriculture that provides us with food and raw materials for making clothes, medicine, shelter, and other commodities needed for our livelihoods. This fundamental fact underlies the importance of seed, as well as the cruciality of this four-days meeting.
Agriculture has played a significant role in providing food and income to Thailand for more than a thousand years since the foundation of the country and it continues doing so. Quality seed is vital to the success of our country's agricultural development. Thanks to our strong National Seed Programme started in 1972 that leads to the availability of quality seed to be used for our cultivation. We have been able to gradually improve our crop yields and quality of agricultural products which consequently improves the standard of living of our farmers. Our first Seed Act was enacted in 1975 to assure that the seed being produced and sold to farmers has the quality meeting the acceptable seed standard. The Seed Industry Investment Policy of the government helps boost the seed industry of the country. Tax concessions applicable to investments in agriculture will be given to those engaged in the seed industry. No duties will be levied on imported seed. This helps lower the cost of production for seed companies and consequently lowers the price of seed sold to farmers. Thailand's seed industry is still growing continuously. Private sector has played a major role in the country's seed export. The quantity and values of seed export has increased continuously for the past fifteen years despite that Thailand has been facing the economic crisis over the last three years. The value of seed exported from Thailand in 1997 was US$ 24.1 million, an increase of 15% from 1996.
Looking into the future, we are projecting the rapid development and change in the plant and seed industry after our first Plant Variety Protection Act will be legally approved and enforceable in the very near future by the year 2000. This should provide numerous incentives to researchers from both domestic and abroad for their noble work in creating new crop varieties. The cost will be more affordable to farmers and they will have more choices and more opportunities in exploiting the superior crop varieties and improve their crop yields and seed quality. However, to supply quality seed to the relatively poor farmers, especially those living in rural areas that could not afford to buy expensive seed produced by seed companies, the government will emphasize on-farm seed production needed to provide seed at the farm-level. The potential farmer groups in the villages will be selected to serve as the nucleus of each area in the village seed project. Appropriate technology and resources will be provided to assure that selected groups are able to continuously produce seed of locally adapted varieties and sell seed to their neighbors in the same villages and to farmers in other villages as well.
By increasing the roles of both the private and public sectors mentioned earlier, we hope that in the near future to come, there will be an adequate supply of seed for the whole country. Thai farmers will have an easy access to quality seed of varieties that are appropriate for their own environment and at prices that they can afford. Consequently, they should be able to increase crop yields and incomes and, as a whole, Thailand should be able to produce more food and contribute more surplus to the world.
In the world of growing population, the serious shortage of food and produce for human consumption is projected in the near future to come. It is an indication that the world is in a great need for quality seed supply. How can we accomplish such a challenging mission? Inevitably, we must together focus our efforts to strengthen crop improvement research and to develop more effective production and distribution systems. In this regard, we need more cooperation among countries in the region as well as among countries from different regions. We recognize that there are many differences among countries in this world in terms of economic development, technology progression and country resources. Some are already well developed, healthy and have high technological development while some are still far behind and need more time and effort to catch up. However, there are always one or more aspects that each can contribute to this cooperation to produce sufficient seed supply to the world. Developed countries can share their higher technology while developing countries can provide an easy access to their invaluable genetic resources. However, this cooperation could not go on smoothly without an applicable benefit-sharing system.
I have noted that in this meeting you will be discussing several significant issues including crop improvement research, intellectual property rights, genetic diversity utilization and conservation, and on-farm seed production. The outcome of these discussions will be very crucial to the future of Asia and the Pacific region as well as to the world in terms of seed supply. Therefore, on this occasion, I would like to wish you a successful deliberation and productive participation which can generate a harmonized seed policy and appropriate seed programmes to be used as guidance for the Asia and Pacific region as well as for the whole world.
With this concluding remark, may I declare the opening of the FAO Regional Meeting on Seed Policy and Programmes for Asia and the Pacific.
Thank you very much.
