LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Sugarcane is one of the main economic crops of Thailand, though with decreasing prices and increasing costs, the net profits of cane growers frequently marginal. Most of the costs of sugarcane production are spent for land preparation and harvesting. It is commonly assumed that any cost reductions which are made in land preparation, will be reflected in increased benefits for cane growers. In this issue Dr Preecha Prammanee and colleagues have explored this idea by making some cost analyses of different cane tillage methods and they report their findings that it is possible to reduce land preparation costs without reducing yields.
Throughout Thailand, there are many native waxy corn varieties (including glutinous corn), with these showing high variations in the characteristics. Ms. Wilaiwan Phromkum and her colleague of the Field Crops Research Institute, have made a collection of many of these varieties, which they have subsequently regenerated and characterized. The data from this was then incorporated into a database in a format allowing easy access for all. The seeds collected are now stored in the National Seed Bank for future use.
Tambon Agricultural Technology Transfer Centres (TATTC) are the meeting point for farmers in each of the districts where they can gather to discuss their problems, share ideas, find out the solutions that their colleagues have tried and tested with or without the services of agricultural technologist. Assistance Professor Mana Thanompuvanat and his colleague interviewed TATTC's’ members to assess their perceptions and attitudes about their local TATTC. They have summarized their work and have presented this together with analysis in this issue.
All these papers are of interest to the farming community and researcher alike and present many different approaches which are being taken by researchers in Thailand in assessing agricultural related problems and presenting workable solutions. They are however, only a summary of the research work and if anyone wishes to learn more about the different aspects involved in each of the three papers please feel free to contact the senior author of each paper directly at the address provided.
Teerasak MANUPEERAPAN
Editor
Teerasakm21@hotmail.com