Thailand
May 20, 2011

Source: AVRDC Newsletter

AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center East and Southeast Asia (ESEA) presented 10,000 packs of vegetable seed kits to the Royal Thai Army and Kasetsart University (KU) on May 18 and 19,
2011 at the office of the Director of Horticultural Research Institute, Bangkok and at ESEA’s Research and Training Station in KU Kamphaeng Saen campus, respectively. Dyno Keatinge, AVRDC Director General and Robert Holmer, ESEA Regional Director, led the ceremonies.

(l to r): Sombat Chinawong, Dyno Keatinge, Michael S. Yiin and Robert Holmer during the turnover of vegetable seed kits to KU at AVRDC’s Research and Training Station.

The kits, each containing seed of mungbean (32 grams), okra (4 grams), and kangkong (62 grams), were produced through the generous support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Taiwan for distribution to communities affected by natural disasters.

Col. Samat Potisa received 5,000 seed kits on behalf of the Royal Thai Army and expressed his gratitude to AVRDC for the support. The seed kits will be distributed primarily to communities affected by severe flooding in Thailand’s Nan Province. Suwit Chaikittiyos, Director of the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI) in Bangkok, and Grisana Linwattana and Piyanuch Naka, both of HRI, also attended.

The other 5,000 kits were received by Sombat Chinawong, Vice President of KU Kamphaeng Saen campus. He thanked AVRDC for the seeds, which will later be distributed to communities affected by floods and landslides in Krabi Province. He acknowledged the significant contribution of AVRDC in alleviating poverty and decreasing malnutrition in the developing world, thanked the government of Taiwan for its financial support, and vowed to support AVRDC and its activities in the future.

Dyno Keatinge noted the importance of producing and consuming health-promoting vegetables. He thanked the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its support in scaling up the Center’s
activities aimed to address nutritional crises and the rehabilitation of vegetable production in disaster-affected farming communities in the region.

Website: https://avrdc.org/

Published: May 20, 2011