Proceedings of the Fifth Asian Regional Maize Workshop - Search ...

PACIFIC SEEDS - PlANT ~ FOO ASIA
Peter Thompson 11
Pacific Seeds has been operating in Asia and the Pacific for more than 30 years.
Our main crops are hybrid maize, hybrid sunflower, hybrid grain sorghum, and hybrid forages
for animal feeding. We have active breeding programs in these crops, and also in hybrid canol a,
soybean, pulse crops, and winter cereals. It has been our honor to introduce many of these crops
to Asian countries, and to successfully develop domestic and export usage of the resultant crop
produce.
In a number of instances, we have directly linked the supply of seed against export of
resultant produce.
As part of the Zeneca group (ICI's biotechnology company), Pacific seeds uses "hi-tech"
breeding methods involVing RFLPs (genetic fingerprinting). This has led our group to be the
first to sell commercially herbicide tolerant hybrid corn. (This was the 1991/92 release in USA
of imizadoline-tolerant maize).
As part of our scientific approach, Pacific seeds has been able to gain good understanding
of the farmer's field level. -rhis has developed in our company a practical outlook, so you will
often find us bringing new solutions and new crops to the frontier of development in Asia.
In this paper, we would like to explain some of the philosophies and policies of the
company, and to tell you something of our corn program.
Development phi losophies and pol icies in Asia.
Pacific Seeds is foremost a service company, using high-technology breeding systems to
release, produce, and market hybrid seeds for the Asian farmer.
A. Market focus.
While we are a company which spends an excess on biotechnology in Zeneca, we know that the
first question the farmer asks about new varieties is "where are the markets?" For this reason,
we strive to ensure that our hybrid seeds meet high domestic and international standards, and
that buyers are waiting for the crop produced by the farmer.
Besides, we realize that modern crop hybrids often need exacting growing conditions, and
require correct application of fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals. Thus, you will
find that we employ experienced technical advisors, and team with specialists from other companies
to ensure that the farmers get the best advice for the complete growing "package".
It is our experience in Asia that small farmers with low availability of capital are usually
highly risk averse. Any recommendation to increase their investment (such as the use of hybrid
seed), means a perceived increase in risk. To overcome the reluctance to adopt new technology
produced by this risk aversion, we need to look carefully at the farming systems to understand:
1. What are the sources of risk (e.g. drought in rainfed conditions, agricultural slumps,
falling market prices, etc.)?
2. How to overcome risk aversion (e.g. by showing high benefit: cost ratios, by introductory
pricing system, etc.)?
B. Exacting standard.
As Asian farmers move into market economics, both we and they are pressured to meet higher
standards. The present day commerce says that farmers must be competitive across international
borders, and for a seed company like Pacific, we also must be competitive in all the countries
where we operate.
~I Technical Services Manager.
Saraburi 18120, Thailand.
leI Pacific Seeds (Thai) Ltd., P.O. Box 15, Phraphuttabat,
250