Biological control

In addition to the obvious dangers from overuse of pesticides, the growing popularity of organic produce among consumers around the world represents an opportunity for Thai farmers, who are well positioned to supply fresh organic produce, especially fruit and vegetables, internationally.

While field application is still limited, some successful bio-control programs include:

• UNIGREEN UN-1 (Trichoderma harzianum) was approved by the Department of Agriculture in 1996, as the first registered bio-fungicide in Thailand.
• Support from BIOTEC and the Thailand Research Fund has resulted in the commercialization of Trichoderma, to control Sclerotim rolfsii Sacc.

• Support from BIOTEC and the Thailand Research Fund has also resulted in the commercialization of Chaetomium, to control soil fungi such as Phytophthora.
• In 2005, Agromed successfully commercialized a product derived from the fungi, Paecilomyces lilacinus, to control naematodes.
• BIOTEC and the Department of Agriculture have joined hands to set up a pilotscale production facility for the production of NPV (nuclear polyhedrosis virus). NPV is widely used to control the Spodoptera moth in the production of grapes and asparagus.