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

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PIot£ER AN) TIE SEED BUSINESS IN THAIl..AN><br />

Weerasak Doungjan 11<br />

Abstract<br />

Corn area in Thailand is approximately 1.5 m ha and seed requirement about 28,000 t<br />

annually. <strong>Maize</strong> production is largely concentrated in <strong>the</strong> Thai Corn Belt located 150-250<br />

km North and 200 km East <strong>of</strong> Bangkok.<br />

Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. (PHI) established Pioneer Hi-Bred (Siam) Co.,<br />

Ltd. (PHS) on January 4, 1980. PHS is a research company with responsibilities for<br />

sorghum breeding and testing <strong>of</strong> corn hybrids. P.6181 was <strong>the</strong> first Pioneer corn hybrid in<br />

Thai land. It was produced and distributed by Siam Seeds Co., Ltd. in 1981. SUper seeds<br />

Co., Ltd. became producer and distributor in 1982.<br />

Pioneer started breeding corn in Thailand in 1983 and also maintained a sorghum<br />

breeding program. PHS changed its name to be Pioneer OVerseas Corp. (Thailand) Ltd.<br />

(POeT) and in 1985 transferred <strong>the</strong> sorghum breeding program to Pioneer OVerseas Corp.<br />

(Philippines) Co., Ltd. POeT concentrated on breeding corn and became a testing site for<br />

sorghum.<br />

The marketing company for Pioneer in Thailand is Pioneer Hi-Bred (Thailand) Co., Ltd.<br />

(PHT) and was established in 1985. PHT has sales activities in <strong>the</strong> Thai Corn Belt and <strong>the</strong><br />

production team includes a processing plant and seed production fields in Lampoon and<br />

Chiang Mai provinces, respectively. The headquarters <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> company are located at:<br />

60/1 Room B501, 5th Floor Monririn Bldg.<br />

Phaholyothin 8 (58ilom), Phaholyothin Rd.<br />

Phyathai, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.<br />

Tel: (02) 270-1490-2, 271-2486<br />

Tel. Fax: 02 271-4369<br />

Introduction<br />

Thailand is an exporter <strong>of</strong> food and o<strong>the</strong>r agricultural products. Thailand has been<br />

exporting grain corn for <strong>the</strong> last 10 years except in 1992 when corn had to be imported for<br />

<strong>the</strong> feed mill industry. The corn area has decreased due to an increase in sugarcane<br />

acreage and drought effect on corn yield as well. At <strong>the</strong> present, <strong>the</strong> corn area in<br />

Thailand has decreased from nearly 2 m ha to 1.5 m ha and <strong>the</strong> seed requirement has been<br />

reduced from 40,000 t to 28,000 t.<br />

seed center<br />

There are several international seed business companies in Thailand such as CP­<br />

DeKalb, cargill, ICI-Pacific, Ciba Geigy, and Pioneer. In <strong>the</strong> early 1980's several local<br />

companies produced and distributed SUwan 1, <strong>the</strong> recommended variety from Kasetsart<br />

University. But this is not a good business any more because SUwan 1 is too common and<br />

can not compare to <strong>the</strong> hybrids even under drought stress. ?resently several local<br />

companies like Thai seeds Industry and Original Marketing have stopped <strong>the</strong>ir activities on<br />

seed production. one outstanding local company today is UniSeeds.<br />

Y Manager <strong>of</strong> Pioneer OVerseas Corporation (Thai land) Ltd., P.O. Box 16 Praputhabat,<br />

58raburi 18120, Thailand.<br />

253

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