The Rice Exporters Association went to Macau last week and brought home a championship for Thailand. Judges at the Rice Trader World Rice Conference 2017 awarded the title of World's Best Rice to a sample of Thai Hom Mali, often called jasmine rice for its fragrance. At the risk of sounding like sour grapes, the award had mixed blessings. It was arguably a missed opportunity.
Thai Hom Mali is well known by both gourmets and those who eat rice all around the world. It has been well marketed, to the point where a million tonnes is sold and consumed outside the country a year. This superior product has been at or near the top of global favour for at least four decades. It is probably the No.1 factor in boosting Thailand as the top rice seller in the world.
As we are thrilled with the championship, Honorary President Chookiat Ophaswongse and his group should also look at boosting the presence of other varieties of rice in international markets. In just the past few years, entrepreneurs, agricultural experts and visionary farmers have created an exciting and dynamic set of choices for the Thai public. Dozens of new varieties and mixes of rice are being grown under cleaner, environmentally friendly conditions.
The Rice Exporters Association should explore a chance to tell the Macau conference and the world about that. Virtually every market and mall in Thailand has packets of the new rice varieties. Rice is no longer that boring old white food staple. It comes in natural colours -- green, black, red, brown, purple. Varieties are mixed together, producing rice that actually blends with meals, and even a separate dish. For example, the recent Masterchef Thailand TV series' final challenge was for the chefs to produce a dish using only eight new varieties of locally grown rice.
In short, Thai farmers have broken the stereotype of rice -- including fragrant, tasty jasmine -- as the most boring part of the meal. They have done this using mostly organic farming methods. Most of the new rice varieties are produced by methods that have drastically cut or eliminated excessive use of chemical herbicides and pesticides. It's one of the greatest agricultural developments in recent Thai history, and it is being tragically ignored in important circles that matter.
Growing and selling rice is tough work, and it's fitting that farmers are called the backbone of the nation. Successive governments and exporters have both promoted and exploited rice growers. Thai rice in all its popular forms is sold locally and worldwide -- ordinary "broken" varieties, glutinous and fragrant hom mali. Americans alone consume more than 2.5 million kilogrammes of jasmine rice every day. And of course Thailand is the biggest rice exporter in the world, despite great competition from India, Vietnam and, ironically, the United States.
Government and rice exporters have built this market. But right now, both groups are missing the chance to give the strongest backing possible to the new breed of farmers and developers. Rice entrepreneurs selling new varieties have added massive value to the product. This is supposedly what this and previous governments wanted. Yet now that it actually has happened and is ready to go before the world, rice promoters like Mr Chookiat's group should do the farmers and, in fact, the country a service.
Congratulations for winning the title yet again. But it is time to move with the times. The new breed of rice farmers deserves more support. Rice is a mass product, and requires mass marketing. Thailand sells a million tonnes a year of jasmine rice. The new brands, with their modern look and, yes, fragrance, deserve better support.
