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Public and Private Partnership in Hybrid Mai::,e Research 79The success of hybrid in the past IS the result of structure or unstructured cooperation betweenpublic and private sector. The success in hybrid development was very fast in the beginning. Thiswas usual for a start. As the seed industry become mure mature and bigger the friendly supports fromthe public begin to fade. The friendly cooperation between private a d private also dilute. We beginto see slow rate of improvement and short life cycle in the new hybrid'. Tl11S is not a healthysituation for farmer in the region. Therefore, we may have to rethink aboul cooperation in such away that it will benefit the farmer in the region to the maximum. We should eliminate the boundarybetween public and private. We are a partner indeed in hybrid maize research.Issues and Concerns in ParlnershipAs a partner in hybrid maize research, we should tlUst each other and operate as oneorganization. That is the ideal. However, we have to admit that the real situation is far from ideal.There are still some issues and concerns that we should discuss thoroughly.These issues and concern are grouped below for discussion:I. Public policy2. Germplasm development and distribution3. Testing program4. Other research areas5. Human resourcesPublic PolicyThere are two areas in public policy; competition and National Seed Corporation. The publicshould not compete but support seed industry. It should prevent monopoly and cartel and encouragecompetition among private companies. This scheme will benefit fanners greatly.Germpla m Development and DistributionIn the past the flow of germplasm has been a one way traffic. Private received germplasm fromthe public, which incluuc Department of Agriculture (DOA), Kasetsart University (KU), InternationalInstitute for Tropical Agriculture (lITA), CIM MYT and other US universities. The flow wasexcellent in the early time. However, the t10w is restricted in some organization at the laler stage.Vie would like to see the flow continue. This is one of the greatest contributions from publicorgani. alion. The tlow should not limit the germplasm. It should include early g neration line orstablished lines. The very good example is Ki3, Kill, or Kil4, Kill, and Ki44. These lines h,vecontributed greatly to many private companies worldwide.Some organizations like CIMMYT have provided early generation lines to sev ral programs. rbelieve this is a great contribution as some line may be discarded at CfMMYT but could turn out tobe excellent line in other locations. This approach has been very successful in large private breedingprogram with several research stations. I would like to encourage national program to think aboutdistributing early generation line to private and other public organization.It should be noted here that distribution of early line would benefit private to increa 'e researchcapability only. Therefore, distributing coded line and hybrid with open pedigree like KU3504 andKU3601 is still an excellent contribution to sfllull company as well as big companies. As the industryhas developed. the flow of germplasm can be two way traffic. Public will have access to privategermplasm in two ways.1. Germplasm. Private may give population or inbred germplasm to public. This hashappened in the US and also Thailand. The very clear example, some international privatecompanies in Thailand such as Novartis provided the S2 lines to Asian Regional Maize Program of