Development of inoculant production and utilisation in Thailand.

The development of the legume inoculant industry in Thailand was started by the public sector in 1976 under a USAID loan. The main objective of the program was to promote the use of inoculant in order to increase important legume products such as soybean, groundnut and mungbean to meet domestic demand. Most of the inoculant production was used in the government-supported programs. With regard to the potential of the inoculant industry, more onfarm research and demonstrations on the use of inoculant should be conducted in order to convince farmers of the benefits of inoculant use, the Government should stop providing free inoculant to farmers and the price of inoculant should be determined by its cost of production. Research on inoculant production technology should be conducted in order to obtain a higher quality product. INOCULANT research has been conducted in Thailand for a long period. It was reported that the first symposium was held in Bangkok during November 1975, to review rhizobial research in Thailand. Most of the research during that period was conducted by the Bacteriology and Soil Microbiology Branch of the Division of Plant Pathology, Department of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, and the Applied Scientific Research Corporation of Thailand. Emphasis had been placed on the physiological characterisation of rhizobia, particularly soybean rhizobia, in different environments. Other legumes, such as mungbean and groundnut, were of minor importance. In December 1975, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DOAE) initiated the Seed Multiplication Project to promote the use of high quality seeds to farmers. In this project, USAID offered a low interest rate loan of 79.8 million baht (US$4 million) for the construction of Seed Centres in Phitsanulok, Chiangmai, Nakhon Ratsima and Chainat. The establishment of the Seed Project generated a huge demand for legume inoculant to go with the foundation seed and commercial seed to be distributed to the farmers. As a result, USAID experts were sent to Thailand in January, 1976, to conduct a feasibility study for the construction of an inoculant production plant at the Department of Agriculture laboratories in Bangkhen, Bangkok. A loan of US$ 0.75 million was guaranteed for the purchase of necessary equipment. The Thai government provided all construction facilities and staff. Production of inoculant in the early stages was behind schedule due to delays in the purchasing of equipment from the U.S. Equipment delivery was completed in 1983. Training in Rhizobial Inoculant Technology Training in rhizobial inoculant technology was one of the functions under the Memorandum of Understanding between the Thai DOA and the USAIDfunded NifTAL Project, University of Hawaii. The Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii (RCHU) established a model Biological Nitrogen Fixation Resource Centre (BNF Resource Centre) at the DOA inoculant production facility, Bangkok in 1983. The main objective was to provide research support and training in inoculant technology for Southeast Asia and other developing countries. Following the planning workshop of the leaders of the national BNF programs in the region to formulate future activities of the centre, training workshops in inoculant technology by BNF specialists were implemented frequently. From 1983 to 1993, a total of 165 scientists participated in these training workshop activities (Table 1). 1 School of Biotechnology, Institute of Agricultural Technology, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand