AgroPages-Chiang Mai University and East-West Seed strengthen collaboration-Agricultural news

East-West Seed and Chiang Mai University (CMU) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to herald a 5-year research cooperation between the two partners.

The MOU will consolidate and build on earlier collaborations between the two partners. East-West Seed and CMU have collaborated in a papaya micropropagation project recently and the company provides training for 6 - 10 bachelor students in their Hortigenetics Research center every year. In September 2015, the company donated a DNA sequencer to the Faculty of Agriculture.

Towards 2018, East-West Seed and CMU will be co-organising the scientific Solanaceae conference, that is organised in a different country every year. The conference focuses on crops in the Solanaceae family such as tomato, potato, tobacco, eggplant, pepper, and the ornamental Petunia hybrida.

Vice President of East-West Seed Simon Jan de Hoop is enthusiastic about the MOU:

“We aim to contribute to the academic careers of students and scientists. High quality academic research is essential to facilitate innovation and future development in our industry. I am very happy to intensify our collaboration with Chiang Mai University - which is almost our neighbor - and reinforce our worldwide network of research partners."

Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at CMU Assoc. Prof. Theera Visitpanich welcomes collaborations with private sector partners: “We are proud to work with East-West Seed, the leading vegetable seed breeder in South East Asia. It is valuable to connect our students and researchers to the everyday practice of agricultural business. ”

On Friday 15 February, 500 students including 150 from CMU, visited East-West Seed’s demonstration fields in Chiang Mai. They were welcomed by Simon Jan de Hoop (photo) and got a tour of the breeding facilities and demonstration fields at East-West Seed's Simon Groot Research Center in Chiang Mai.