Grain

Biothai Director, Witoon Lianchamroon explains the findings of the Biothai report With the power struggle between political parties grabbing the headlines these days in Thailand, another power play is happening behind the scenes. Charoen Pokphand (CP), a Thai-based multinational conglomerate controlled by the family of Danin Chearavanont, involved in everything from poultry and seeds to telecommunications and real estate, is now making a big move for control over the country's enormous rice economy-- and hybrid rice is at the centre of its plan. But Biothai, a Thai NGO that supports people's control over biodiversity, was well-prepared to take on the Thai corporate giant. The day before CP's highly publicised commercial release of its new hybrid rice seed varieties, Biothai released a devastating report (English version will soon be availabel on this page), detailing how CP's varieties were not at all what the company was claiming.

The Biothai report was picked up by local media. CP advertised that its hybrid rice would yield between 20-50 per cent more than the other conventional varieties on the market, with a yield potential of over 9 tonnes per hectare. It also said that farmers would get higher incomes and would use less chemical inputs. Biothai conducted its own survey of nine farmers test growing CPs hybrid rice in Kamphanpet and Audtraradit provinces between February and May of this year. They found that the average yield for the farmers was only around 6 tonnes per hectare-- 36% below what CP was advertising. More importantly, while the CP hybrid rice did yield slightly higher than the average for conventional varieties grown in the same area (by about 15%), this was cancelled out by the increased costs of production. The costs of seeds for the CP hybrids were 5 times the cost for conventional varieties and the costs for both fertilisers and pesticides doubled. The net income for farmers growing conventional rice was 160% higher than those growing CP hybrids. More information can be found here: http://www.grain.org/hybridrice/?lid=206