Bangkok, Thailand
June 6, 2016
Leading seed company East-West Seed donates THB 1 million to the Center for Agricultural Biotechnology for Thailand’s first bioinformatics supercomputer dedicated to agriculture research.
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During a handover ceremony held last Friday at Kasetsart University (KU), private seed company East-West Seed formalized its donation of THB 1 million for the new bioinformatics program at the Center for Agricultural Biotechnology (CAB). The donation will benefit CAB’s acquisition of a supercomputer server which will house vast amounts of data for its computational biology program.
The ceremony was presided by Dr. Pichet Durongkaveroj, Thailand's Minister of Science & Technology, who emphasized the importance of cooperation between public and private sectors to promote research and knowledge creation.
Developing local talent
Bioinformatics, a relatively undeveloped field in Thailand, is expected to become very important for the future of plant breeding. Kasetsart University hopes this investment in technology will stimulate talent development in this field.
“This new program is expected to raise the quality of our graduates,” said Dr. Julapark Chunwongse, deputy Director of the Center for Agricultural Biotechnology at Kasetsart University. “The future of Thai agriculture depends on advancements in biotechnological research and applied agricultural technology. We need to fill our shortage of highly trained professionals in all sectors from academics to governmental agencies to the private sector. Cooperation between academe and the private sector is essential to achieve this.”
Simon Jan de Hoop, Vice President for R&D of East-West Seed, said: “We are happy to donate THB 1 million to CAB as contribution to the purchase of a new server and other equipment. We would like to be part of this development at KU. Our company actively seeks cooperation with the academic world to develop talent and help raise the level of agricultural knowledge. We see a good opportunity to hire capable Thai graduates in this field, especially as our company’s research hub is in Thailand. I believe bioinformatics is the research field of the future for seed companies like us.”
East-West Seed is the market leader for tropical vegetable seeds. Its R&D hub is located in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and it maintains strong liaisons with Thai universities like Chiang Mai University, Khon Kaen University and Maejo University. Internationally, it has research collaborations with renowned agriculture research institutions like the University of California-Davis and Cornell University in the USA and Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
Serving farmers
Bioinformatics has emerged over the last 10 years as a powerful tool for analyzing and interpreting data to facilitate biological discoveries. Scientists use it to study molecular markers and DNA of plants and animals. It aids plant breeders in developing new varieties faster. For a seed company like East-West Seed, this means getting new products to the market faster and giving farmers access to quality seeds that will lead to improved crops.
For the last 34 years, East-West Seed has focused on serving smallholder farmers. Recently, it supported the Thai government’s drive to help farmers cope with the drought by encouraging them to switch from traditional crops to 7 types of water-saving crops which are easy to grow, consume less water, fast yielding and make good profit.
Earlier this year, East-West Seed was ranked #1 in the “Global Index for Vegetable Seed Companies” by Access to Seeds, an independent organization funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Index measures the efforts of the world’s leading seed companies to enhance the productivity of smallholder farmers.
About the Center for Agricultural Biotechnology
CAB is a lead institution of the research and graduate training consortium of the Center of Excellence for Agricultural Biotechnology (AG-BIO) which is the hub of academician networks. The Center is awarded a grant from the Commission of Higher Education (CHE), Ministry of Education, to form a task force made up of faculties and researchers from leading laboratories of Thailand's 10 universities. The entrusting goal is to bring agricultural sector into the era of globalization. Agriculture based on cutting-edge technologies is the only option to lessen the shortage crisis in food, energy and climatic deterioration on a global scale. CAB has been in partnership with Thailand Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (THAIST), National Science Technology & Innovation Policy Office, Ministry of Science & Technology in promoting and enhancing advanced science and technology for personnel in plant breeding in public and private sectors.
About East-West Seed
East-West Seed is market leader for tropical vegetable seeds in Asia. The family-owned company has played an important role in the development and improvement of tropical vegetable varieties in Southeast Asia and other tropical countries. When Dutch seedsman Simon Groot founded the company in 1982, he set out to improve the income of smallholder farmers in the tropics through high-quality seeds. East-West Seed develops vegetable varieties that are adapted to tropical markets and growing conditions and generate increased yield and productivity for farmers. In addition, the company educates farmers and helps them to maximize their yield and income through better knowledge on vegetable production.
East-West Seed is one of the 10 largest vegetable seed companies in the world, with a leading position in the most important Southeast Asian countries and rapid expansion into India, Myanmar, Vietnam and parts of Africa and South America. In 2016 it ranked number 1 on the Access to Seeds Global Index for Vegetable Seed Companies and on the Regional Index for Eastern Africa.
East-West Seed is based in Thailand. The company employs over 4,000 people and has 15 R&D establishments in 7 countries. The company exports to over 60 countries in tropical areas of the world and serves over 18 million farmers around the world.
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