A customer inspects F1 seeds for sale at a shop in Yangon's Kandawgyi Garden. Pic: Aung Tun Win

DEMAND for F1 hybrid seeds (F1) imported from Thailand has increased between 20-30 percent in the local market continuing a three-month trend, according to importers and sellers.

Dr Nan Phoung Sai, managing director of Rice Trade International, said sales of F1 seeds imported from Thailand, including cauliflower, tomato, cabbage and melon, have increased by 25-30pc over the past three months.

“In previous years farmers would generally use OP [open pollination] seeds. But in the past three years, farmers have become more aware of the benefits of the F1 seeds and sales have increased about 30pc throughout the country,” said Dr Nan Phoung Sai.

“Myanmar can’t afford to produce its own F1 seeds but the imported F1 seeds – especially from Thailand – are now very popular among farmers. We have already imported about three tonnes in the last three months,” she said.

The F1 seeds, which are derived by breeding two distinctly different parental types, have become more popular with farmers because they produce more uniform and higher yielding crops, said U Than Hlaing, a farmer from Yangon Division’s Hlegu township. He said another advantage is that produce from the F1 seeds is more durable while in transportation.

Thailand F1 seeds have approximately 70pc market share in Yangon and are far more popular than competing varieties from China, Taiwan and Japan, dealers and importers said.

U San Nyo, owner of Hlaing Tet Garden Mart, said by choosing the F1 Thai seeds farmers were opting for quality over price.

“Although Chinese F1 seeds are cheaper than the seeds from Thailand the quality is not as good. Also, only a small amount of F1 seeds are imported from Japan,” said U San Nyo, adding that in the past year sales of Thai F1 seeds at his shop have risen about 30pc.

He said though that he has resisted increasing F1 seed prices in line with demand because farmers cannot afford to pay more, given the cost of fertilisers and insecticides has increased by about 40pc this year.

Daw Khin Moe Khine, assistant manager of Kandaw Gyi Garden Mart, said while F1 seed sales had increased there were advantages to OP seeds that would ensure they continue to have a presence in the local market.

“The weak point of F1 is that when they are used to breed a new generation of seeds, their offspring [F2 generation] … will have a depression in yield and lack the hybrid vigour. So, the farmers who want to make a second generation of seed always choose OP because the quality of the second generation is the same as first,” Daw Khin Moe Khine said. “Moreover, OP seeds are about four times cheaper than Thai F1 varieties.”

Cauliflower F1 seeds sell for K5000 per 10g, while OP cauliflower seeds are K1000 for the same amount. OP tomato seeds are ten times cheaper than F1 – K350 compared to K3500 – while OP cabbage seeds are one quarter the price of F1 seeds.

Daw Khin Moe Khine said the F1 seeds had been particularly popular with donors following Cyclone Nargis but Rice Trade International director U Tet Oo told The Myanmar Times the increase in sales was not connected with the cyclone relief effort.

“Most people think that the increase in demand for F1 seeds is due to the NGOs’ donation after Cyclone Nargis. But actually it is mostly related to the changing habits of cultivators, who are trying to get better yields,” U Tet Oo said.

He added that, while the seeds were increasing in popularity here, their usage is still less than in neighboring countries such as Vietnam, where 90 percent of farmland is cultivated with F1 seeds.