Re: "Scandal taints Thai rice", (Editorial, Jan 30). Our arch-competitor Vietnam last year alone received 1 billion baht to develop rice seeds. Their strains are so good that Thai farmers reportedly smuggle their seeds in to grow locally. Instead of billions for rice subsidies, we should spend those billions on R&D to develop the strains most wanted by our markets and develop ways to add value to rice -- like domestically. While we await our R&D results, buy improved strains from other countries and sell them at subsidised prices to farmers to grow.
