"Homali Rice Festival" to be organized in Thai Northeast

ROI ET, November 24 (TNA) Thailand's northeastern Roi Et Province will organize the "Homali Rice Festival" from December 1-3, 2012 to internationally publicize the country's best strain of the jasmine rice and to boost local tourism. Roi Et Governor Somsak Khamta-wee-prom told reporters today that activities and events during the three-day festival will be all about the rice, including rice parades. According to the governor, tourists joining in the festival can travel down a jasmine rice road and taste the best "Hommali" rice in Thailand, free of charges. The governor said that Thailand's best "Homali" or jasmine rice strains are now produced on the vast 2.1-million-rai (2.5 rais = 1 acre) Tung Kula Rong Hai area, covering five northeastern Thai provinces of Surin, Si Sa Ket, Yasothon, Maha Sarakram and Roi Et, acknowledging, however, that the Thai best strain of "Hommali" or jasmine rice is produced in Roi Et, on a total of 900,000-rai fields, the most part of the Tung Kula Rong Hai, thanks to Roi Et's soil, a mixture of sand and alkaline, which causes the province's grains to release the Aectyl-Pyrroline substance that produces twice as much fragrant than those of other strains of the Thai jasmine rice. In the past, Tung Kula Rong Hai was a vast, unproductive zone with always drought, but the area has now become the country's production hub of best jasmine rice strains due to joint efforts of several agencies to develop it into the vast green zone successfully.(TNA)