Even Thai fruit will compete
in the 2008 Beijing Olympics

One little Chanthaburi village in eastern Thailand has been chosen to promote its products for free. The village was selected by Olympic organisers to provide durian chip fruit snacks to athletes and spectators during the Olympics.

In Ban Trok Nong village, located about 45 kilometres from downtown Chanthaburi, most people earn their living from growing tropical fruits including durian, rambutan, and mangosteen. The village farm co-operative has as members a group of 68 housewives ranging in age from 25 to 60.

The farm cooperative was formed in 2001 after a drop in the price of mon thong, a premium variety of durian, from 70-80 baht to 20-30 baht. The move by the cooperative to create a new value-added product and differentiate the durian they sell from other sellers in the market was very successful. The income from dried durian chips is higher and more steady than plain unprocessed durian, going for as much as 300 baht per kilo. The production process begins with selecting out high quality 80%-ripe durian and then slicing it into bite-sized pieces which are fried and then dried for four hours to eliminate excess oil. The cooperative sells 20 tonnes of these durian chips every year.

The cooperative has participated in the One Tambon One Product (OTOP) programme for many years and finally was selected in a competition last year for the honour of supplying this year's Olympics in China. It was the only farm cooperative chosen to participate in the Olympics, but 15 Thai fruit-processing companies will be accompanying them to the Olympics and supplying a variety of fresh and dried fruits including bananas, coconuts, durians, longans, mangos, mangosteens, pomelos and pineapples.

Promotional events in Beijing and other Chinese cities are being planned to accompany the Olympics including Shanghai and Xian, a popular tourist destination. Overall 10,000 tonnes of fruit will be shipped from Thailand to China during the Olympics.

[Export Statistics: "Strong demand from China and Hong Kong is expected to push Thai fruit export revenue up by 10% this year to an estimated US$6.42 million. Shipments to these two destinations have grown strongly by 72% and 30% respectively over the same period last year.

Based on figures of the Agriculture Ministry, fruit production this year is forecast to increase slightly to 2.6 million tonnes. The volume includes 746,600 tonnes of durian, 495,700 tonnes of rambutan, and 311,330 tonnes of mangosteen."]

Read a previous article on the entry of Thai fruit into the American market and the archive of Bangkok Post articles on agriculture.

(Source: Bangkok Post, business, Asia Focus, 03-05-08, temp-link)

Vocabulary:

upcoming - will happen in the near future ที่กำลังจะมาถึง

sponsor an event - pay money to support the event, in return for having their brand name shown and promoted  เป็นผู้สนับสนุนการจัดงาน

a chip - a small flat piece of something  ชิ้นเล็กๆ

a farm co-operative - a group of farmers joining together to process and market their crops กลุ่มสหกรณ์การเกษตร

a premium variety - a type of good that costs a little more for extra quality or features สินค้าคุณภาพเยี่ยม

a value-added product - a new product created from another product by adding value to it (for example, potatoes are processed and turned into potatoe chips)  การเพิ่มมูลค่าการผลิตสินค้า

differentiate - make different from others แยก จำแนกความแตกต่าง

fruit-processing - cleaning, cutting, and packaging fruit for sale in stores กระบวนการแปรรูปผลไม้

unprocessed - fruit straight from the tree ที่เก็บมาโดยตรงจากต้น โดยไม่ผ่านกระบวนการต่างๆ

ripe - fully grown and ready to eat สุ

eliminate excess oil - get rid of oil from cooking  การกำจัดน้ำมันส่วนเกินออกจากการประกอบอาหาร

One Tambon One Product (OTOP) - the Thai government programme for promoting rural industry and products โอทอป โครงการผลิตสินค้าหนึ่งตำบลหนึ่งผลิตภัณฑ์

the honour of - special praise or an award for doing something เพื่อเป็นเกียรติ

accompanying - going together with ที่มาพร้อมกับ

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