Bangkok, Thailand
March 12, 2010

Source: Newsletter of the World Vegetable Center

To enhance the existing partnership on vegetable research and development in Thailand, the Asian Regional Center of AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center conducted a joint meeting with the Tropical Vegetable Research Center (TVRC) of Kasetsart University (KU) on 9 February 2010 at the university’s Kamphaeng Saen Campus. All staff members of the two centers participated.

After a warm welcome address, Sirikul Wasee, TVRC Director, presented the institute’s mandate and activities. Established in 1988 as a research and extension unit of Kasetsart University, TVRC is involved mainly in collecting, evaluating, and generating vegetable germplasm and in conducting research on various production systems under open and controlled environments in cooperation with KU scientific staff and students. A major focus of its research activities is breeding disease-resistant pepper and tomato. TVRC also provides improved seed to farmers at low
cost and conducts training and workshops on different aspects of vegetable production.

Robert Holmer, Director of AVRDC’s Asian Regional Center, gave an overview of AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center, with an emphasis on AVRDC’s global themes and the respective activities
of the Center towards achieving the goal of alleviating poverty and malnutrition in the developing world through the increased production and consumption of safe vegetables.

A discussion on possible collaborative research and training activities followed the presentations. One of the potential joint research activities will be on tospoviruses in Southeast Asia. TVRC will organize a workshop on 16 March 2010 in cooperation with the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Thailand (BIOTEC), in which AVRDC representatives will participate. It was further agreed to tap TVRC’s expertise for AVRDC’s planned 29th Regional Training Course and to share common resources at Kasetsart University’s Kamphaeng Saen campus. The meeting culminated in a sumptuous lunch of indigenous vegetables jointly prepared by ARC and TVRC.

Kasetsart University in Bangkok is Thailand’s first institution of higher education in agriculture. It began as the Agricultural Primary Teachers' Training School in 1917, and later was established as a university in 1943 with the symbol of Phra Pirun (god of rain) on a serpent surrounded by a circle of lotus leaves. As the university grew and more room was required for teaching and research, the agricultural programs moved to Kamphaeng Saen District in Nakhon Pathom Province in 1979.
Faculty of Agriculture, Kamphaeng Saen Campus, Kasetsart University http://www.agri.kps.ku.ac.th/En/

Website: https://avrdc.org/

Published: March 15, 2010