ID :
348519
Wed, 11/19/2014 - 17:49
Auther :

Thailand's Rice Department wins int'l award

BANGKOK, November 19 (TNA) - The Bangkok-based Office of Atoms for Peace (OAP) has delivered a prestigious award from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to the Rice Department, under the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, for successfully using atomic energy to develop important rice varieties in Thailand. OAP Secretary-General Atchara Wongsaengchan handed the Certificate of the Achievement Award in Plant Mutation Breeding to Rice Department Director-General Charnpithaya Chimphali in Bangkok on Wednesday. Earlier, Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha, Thai Ambassador to Austria, received the certificate on behalf of Thailand from the IAEA Deputy Director-General during the 58th IAEA General Conference in September 2014. The Rice Department's director-general told journalists that several countries joined the contest and Thailand is among 12 countries winning awards from the contest, marking the 50th anniversary of cooperation between IAEA and FAO. According to the senior official, Thailand is recognized for using gamma ray to develop two important rice varieties from the Mali 105 rice strain, which is the country's best rice strain. The two newly-developed important rice varieties, referred by the director-general, include the glutinous rice variety Gor Kor 6, which is soft and fragrant and better resists the brown spot disease, and the popular white rice Gor Kor 15, the quality of which is close to Mali 105. The development of the Gor Kor 6 rice variety started in 1965 and it was recognized in 1979 and has been popular since then. Thai farmers grow it in the majority of paddy fields in the country now as it is highly demanded in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), especially Laos and Vietnam, with its total export of about 200,000 tons, worth around 60 million US dollars, last year. Total export value of the popular white rice Gor Kor 15, on the other hand, was estimated at over 400 million US dollars last year. (TNA)

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