Impact of tropical forage seed development in villages in Thailand and Laos: Research to village farmer production to seed export

Abstract

Seed of 6 forage varieties, Mulato II hybrid brachiaria, Cayman hybrid brachiaria, Mombasa guinea, Tanzania guinea, Ubon stylo and Ubon paspalum, are currently being produced by more than 1000 smallholder farmers in villages in northeast Thailand and northern Laos, under contract to Ubon Forage Seeds, Faculty of Agriculture, Ubon Ratchathani University, Thailand. The seed is mainly exported overseas (95%) and the remainder is sold within Thailand. Tropical Seeds LLC, a subsidiary of the Mexican seed company, Grupo Papalotla, employs the seed producing and seed research group, Ubon Forage Seeds, to manage seed production, seed sales and export, and to conduct research on new forage species. This paper discusses in detail how the development in villages of a smallholder farmer seed production program has had positive social and economic outcomes for the village seed growers and enabled farmers in other countries to receive high quality forage seeds. The strong emphasis on seed quality, high purity, high vigor and high germination, has had a large impact on tropical pastures in more than 20 tropical countries in Asia, Africa, the Pacific and Central and South America.