 |
ความคิดเห็นที่ 5 |
บทความเต็มๆ จาก Bangkok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/26998/thailand-girds-for-a-rice-war
Thailand girds for a rice war
Exports are under pressure with the US marketing Jazzman and China and other countries upping the ante on quality
Published: 7/11/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Recent news reports tell of how the US has been successful in breeding a new fragrant rice and naming it Jazzman to make it sound like the famous Thai jasmine rice, or Thai Hom Mali, noted Mingsan Khaosa-ard, a Chiang Mai University academic, writing for Matichon.
Thailands Hom Mali still leads the way but its premier position is being threatened by those who mix it with inferior grains and so undermine its status.
Mingsan noted the US was for some years the second biggest rice exporting nation after Thailand, but was recently supplanted by Vietnam.
The US has been trying for over two decades to compete against Hom Mali rice by researching a variety of grains to find a breed that could produce a fragrant rice.
China was also keen to produce a fragrant rice in competition with Hom Mali. Yian Longping, a Chinese rice researcher, remarked over a decade ago that once China was self-sufficient in producing enough rice for local consumption, it would turn its attention to producing a fragrant rice. China has been self-sufficient in rice for several years now, but it still has failed to breed a significant aromatic rice variety to compete against Thailand.
Now that the US has been successful in producing a fragrant rice under the name of Jazzman, it is high time the Thai government paid more attention to Hom Mali and its challengers in the global market.
It is true Thailand is a rice exporting superpower because it exports more rice than any country in the world - almost 10 million tonnes last year. And it is not only quantity; Thailand has a premium grade in Hom Mali which fetches a very high price.
Even though Thailand is the leading rice exporter, the country's rice production accounts for only 5% of global supply, even less than the No.2 rice exporter, Vietnam. However, Thai rice has a good reputation for its quality and taste as the country has continually improved its quality while other rice producing countries emphasise productivity and quantity with taste a secondary consideration.
But the unexpected danger to Thai rice exports is the mixing of Hom Mali with lower quality varieties to fleece consumers. For the past five years, Hom Mali prices on the world market have risen steadily, from $316 a tonne in 2002 to $561 in 2007, reaching $928 in 2008.
In September this year, the writer was told by Chinese rice traders that Hom Mali fetched over $1,000 a tonne in China. With Thai Hom Mali fetching such an astronomical price, there is an incentive for Chinese rice traders to mix the local Chinese rice with Hom Mali to earn extra profits, resulting in lower quality rice.
For this reason, the amount of Hom Mali exported to China fell from 653,153 tonnes in 2007 to 249,398 tonnes last year. This year, Thai Hom Mali is expected to fall even further in the Chinese market.
The fact Thai Hom Mali can fetch as much as $1,000 a tonne is an incentive for other countries such as China, the US and Vietnam to produce their own fragrant rice varieties to compete against it.
China is now producing enough rice for domestic consumption and is beginning to export some surplus, especially as domestic consumption is falling steadily. China was a net rice exporter from 1980 to 2001 (except in 1989, 1995 and 1996). From 1998 to 2003, China exported 2.65 million tonnes on average a year, while the amount of premium rice imports remained steady.
Even though China cannot compete against high quality Thai rice overseas, Chinese rice is beginning to make inroads into the Hom Mali share at home.
The writer was not sure who was responsible for mixing Hom Mali with other rice varieties. He speculated that Hom Mali might have been mixed with fragrant Phathum, but when Phathum prices also rose significantly, Hom Mali was then mixed with local Chinese varieties of even lower quality. When Chinese authorities seized adulterated Hom Mali in Shanghai, Thai Hom Mali was taken off supermarket shelves in many places, reducing Hom Mali's share of the Chinese market even further.
The writer then talked about China's public policy on agriculture research and development. Before China was admitted into the international community with a permanent seat in the United Nations, China had been barred by the West from participating in international organisations such as the International Rice Research Institute based in the Philippines. China had to rely on its own research on grains. Its R&D budget is about 0.53% of the value of farm products while Thailand's is about 0.49%. However, in terms of real money, China spends much more as the Chinese GDP is many times that of Thailand. In 2003, China spent about $200 million (6.7 billion baht) on biotech research while Thailand spent from 85 million to 100 million baht a year, most of it on wages.
What is shocking is that the Rice Department does not even have a device to measure the level of rice fragrance. The Thai Rice Institute still relies on an expert's nose to determine the fragrance level.
The writer wondered how Thailand could aspire to become the "Kitchen of the World" when it sorely lacks the basic equipment.
Another factor that may reduce the quality of Hom Mali in the future is global warming. Hom Mali relies on cool weather before the harvest to maintain its unique fragrance. If the weather is warmer, the quality not only suffers but also possibly the quantity. If Thailand does not try to find a way to prevent this mishap, the future of Hom Mali could be in jeopardy over the long run.
The best investment is to devise a good strategy. Chiang Mai University has been granted a budget to study and come up with a master plan for three main cash crops - rice, sugar cane and cassava - to cope with the expected climate change affecting Thailand. It is hoped the master plan will prove a guide to help Thailand maintain its competitiveness so it remains the leading rice exporting superpower and Thai Hom Mali can still be the world champion rice.
The writer also welcomed the present government's allocation of 1.6 billion baht to the Agriculture Ministry for rice R&D as part of the Thailand: Investing from Strength to Strength programme. If such a huge sum is spent wisely, Thailand can expect to continue to be the leading rice exporter in the foreseeable future.
| จากคุณ |
:
K.Senior  
|
| เขียนเมื่อ |
:
28 ม.ค. 53 21:14:45
|
|
|
|
|
