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Thailand fueds with US government over unique rice product

Kal Suwanna-adht, marketing director of Thai rice export firm Kaset Rungruang Marketing, shows a new type of rice that is a cross between the indigenous black seed and fragrant jasmine varieties at his mill in the eastern province of Chonburi yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Thailand's distinctive long-grain jasmine rice, a prized crop and a source of pride for the world's largest rice exporter, has touched off an unsavory feud between Thailand and the US.

Thai activists have accused a US rice breeder of pilfering seeds from Thailand to develop a strain of the aromatic rice that could be grown in the cooler US climes and thereby undercut a vital Thai export market.

The Thai government has also joined the fray over fears that University of Florida researcher Chris Deren will attempt to patent the rice and effectively rob Thailand of one of its most powerful brand names.

"Jasmine rice for the Thais is like Dom Perignon champagne," said Thai senator and foreign relations committee chair Kraisak Choonhavan.

"We thought this was an infringement on the Thai breed and the Thai market," he added. "If we cannot in the future use the name for our rice, we're finished."

Kraisak said he learned about the project by Deren -- whose work is backed by the US Department of Agriculture -- through "increasing advertising" on the Internet for the rice variety also known as Khao Dok Mali 105.

"We fear that if the so-called long-grain aromatic rice were going to be marketed -- it was advertised that this was going to be produced somewhere in Florida, something like 500 acres -- we'll be at a great disadvantage."

"If we do not contest the brand name, he will be in a position to sue all other Thai exporters," Kraisak said.

"That would spell disaster."

However, the US scientist says he obtained rice seeds legally through the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), a Manila-based non-profit organization, and has no plans to apply for a patent, according to IRRI.

"Deren requested the rice from IRRI in December 1995," said Boriboon Somrith, the center's Thailand representative. "He did not get the seeds directly from IRRI, but from another US researcher who got them from us."

Boriboon said the institute recently received a letter from Deren and another US rice researcher saying they "will not seek any form of intellectual property rights to protect any new varieties derived from KDM 105."

He said Thailand first gave samples of its jasmine rice to IRRI in 1962, for use by international researchers and rice farmers. Since then some 22 countries have requested Thai jasmine rice seeds.

"There are 22 countries that have requested the seeds from IRRI," Boriboon said. "It's popular because of its characteristics, its long shape, its scent. They may have used it in a breeding program or to grow directly."

Vietnam and Myanmar are other countries in the region that have cultivated the same strain of jasmine rice but have given it different names, he said.

Warm temperatures and steady rainfall in Thailand's northeast make it the most fertile ground in the world for cultivating the famous pearly white rice that is crucial to Thailand's export sector.

Thailand, the world's top rice-exporting nation, is on track to produce a new export record of 6.8 million tonnes this year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Boriboon said Thailand produces about three million tonnes of its celebrated jasmine rice, with about 1.2 to 1.4 million tonnes earmarked for export.

The US imports up to 300,000 tonnes of jasmine rice while Singapore, Malaysia, China, Australia and Canada represent other important export markets, he said.

Concerned about a possible threat to one of its richest markets, Thailand has taken the case to Washington where the agriculture ministry's Amphon Kitti-amphon is meeting this week with US agriculture officials.

The Thai government also deployed a fact-finding team this week to IRRI's headquarters in the Philippines.

A US official told reporters that Washington was "looking into the matter and trying to find out how the scientist obtained the seeds," and that it would be dealt with according to any applicable international patent laws.

Meanwhile, Thai activists have dug in, saying the US rice breeding project hurts rural farmers in Thailand who depend on the rice for their already meager livelihoods.

"They are not improving the rice variety, so they cannot ask for a patent," said Witoon Lanchamroon, director of the Bangkok-based environmental activist group BioThai.

"It is to steal the heritage of the Thai farmer," he said. "We will raise this as a political issue because jasmine rice belongs to the Thai farmer and many millions of Thai farmers grow only jasmine rice."

"This program has a negative effect not only for the rice market, but for the livelihoods of poor farmers, and we cannot accept the way a rich country is doing this to the Thai farmer."
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