The looting of Thai plant and fruit varieties for development in rival export countries is
an urgent problem that the government must tackle by setting stricter protection measures
for the countrys intellectual property.
Australia and the US are two major countries which have been found to be developing
tropical fruits and plants. They aim to increase their export share in the international market.
Meanwhile, Taiwan-where an international fruit-research center has been established- is
trying hard to develop new varieties of fruits to meet market demand.
Duangkamol Jiambutr, director of the Thai Trade Center inSingapore, said many new
varieties of tropical fruit such as durians from Australia, longans and lychees from China
and mangoes from Taiwan had been imported for marketing tests this year.
An official at the Thai Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry said Australia had invested
hundreds of millions of dollars in setting up a research center into tropical products. Many
strains of Thai plants were imported or brought home by Australian researchers who had
studied in Thailand.
The smuggling of such varieties had led to them being crossbred to grow in Australia
with a higher yield and bigger size than local strains. Australia aims to export these new fruit
varieties for commercial purposes.
The issue has become particularly topical since the much publicized news that US rice
researcher Chris Deren will patent a strain of Thailands Khao Dok Mali 105 (fragrant
jasmine rice), which he claims to have acquired from the Philippine-based International
Rice Research Institute.