KHON KAEN, Dec 2 (TNA) — Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Prapat Pothasuthon has ordered the Rice Department to improve Thai rice so that it can regain its global rice championship.
Mr Prapat visited the Khon Kaen Rice Research Center in Khon Kaen provincial seat. He said that after Thailand lost fragrant rice championship to Vietnam in the World’s Best Rice 2019 contest in Manila, he convened chiefs of all rice research centers today to discuss information about the contest.
He said he learned that the Thai rice entry sent to this year’s competition did not represent the standard of the Rice Department.
“In this contest, the competition organizing committee did not receive the rice that meets the specifications of the Rice Department. I do not believe that the quality of Thailand’s Hom Mali rice drops,” Mr Prapat said.
“Thai Hom Mali rice did not lose but the party that sent the entry failed to meet the specifications set by the host of the competition. Therefore, next year we must regain the championship,” the deputy minister said.
“I have ordered rice research centers in the Northeast to thoroughly study the criteria of the competition including rice softness, stickiness, tastes, and smell. Besides, they must conduct comprehensive researches and develop the rice varieties with longer grains. They must find out the best way to maintain the quality of Thailand’s Hom Mali rice,” Mr Prapat said.
“Losing the championship this year hurt the feeling of Thai people because Thailand had held it for five years,” he said. (TNA)
