Aid with seed technology for Asian countries

Press, 22 October 1980, Page 10

Aid with seed technology for Asian countries

NZPA Bangkok Three experts from Massey University are holding a South-East Asian and Pacific region seed technology workshop in Bangkok as part of the New Zealand development aid programme. The three-week course is being attended by students from 10 countries — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Tonga and Bhutan. It is the second workshop of its type organised by the seed technology centre at Massey University. The previous course was held two years ago in Manila and the third will probably be held in 1982 in Kuala Lumpur. Dr M. Hill, director of the centre, is conducting the course with the senior lecturer at the centre, Dr C. Williams, and a senior associate, Mrs D. Meech. Dr Hill said that a lack of trained seed experts and facilities for maintaining quality control was hampering Asian agriculture considerably. At the drying, thrashing, cleanage and storage stage of seed

processing there was frequently a lack of knowledge of how best to handle seed.

“In practice this means that officials give out to farmers seeds of new crop varieties which should produce better crops but which do not do so because they havd been improperly stored. “Farmers, in turn, reject the new varieties of seeds because they believe the seeds are not as good as those they collect themselves from old strains, even though technically the new varieties should be much better and give improved crop yields. "All the participants in the workshops have some involvement in the seed business and we hope they will take home with them appropriate technology, ’’ Dr Hill said. Dr Willaims said: “The work is having a big impact. Demand for places is high. It is an example of an aid programme helping people to help themselves and the Government and Ministry of Foreign Affairs should get. full marks for co-operating in agriculture with our Asian neighbours in this way.”