Sons of the soil

Thailand is the largest regional supplier of durian to China, its biggest international consumer market for the fruit.

Data from China Customs showed that the country imported approximately 1.56 million metric tons of durian with a total value of $6.99 billion last year, a new high. Of China's total durian imports, nearly 60 percent were from Thailand.

As global demand for durians swelled in recent decades, many Thai farmers shifted from cultivating other fruits to growing durians for higher profits. However, the harvests are still vulnerable to factors such as the weather, plant diseases and soil quality problems.

"Local farmers are at the mercy of the forces of nature," said farmer Chord Chanbuppha. "We water the orchards with an estimated amount, despite the fact that weather conditions in tropical areas are changing dramatically."

The 56-year-old has been growing durian for years in Thailand's Chanthaburi Province, the kingdom's major production base for tropical fruits.

He said a lot of farmers in the province have shifted from planting longan and mangosteen to durian. But since it takes at least seven or eight years for a durian sapling to grow to maturity for harvesting, the input to output ratio is unpredictable.

Zhou, the researcher, noted that the industry in Thailand faces obstacles, including the lack of modern agricultural equipment.

In terms of dwarfing cultivation — a method that controls the plants' height for easier management — its application in Thailand is still low, he said. "Taking integration of water and fertilizer as another example, the system has covered 70 to 80 percent of medium and big-size farms in China, but is barely seen in Thai orchards," he said.

Chord is among the farmers in Chanthaburi who have benefited from Chinese agricultural technologies.

With support from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the orchard he works at was upgraded last year with the help of Beyondsoft Corp, a Chinese company specializing in information technology products, solutions, and services.