Crop wars in ASEAN: opportunities & challenges

The creation of the ASEAN Economic Community will see free trade between the 10 member countries. That means access to a market bigger than Europe.

But it also means direct competition between the nations of South East Asia. Nowhere will the battle be fiercer than in agriculture. Martin Lowe sees how they're getting ready for "Crop Wars" in Thailand.

A rice farmer checks his crop. It'll soon be harvest time. Thai rice is good quality, but it's not the cheapest on the world market. Some insects are good for the rice crop, some bad. Here good insects have been introduced so fewer pesticides are needed.

It's this kind of innovation that Thai farmers hope will help them succeed in the ASEAN Economic Community.

Wirut Prayoonpong, rice farmer, said, "If we work together it will be good but if not It won't help us."

This man advises farmers how to help each other, by forming co-operatives or agro-communities.

Chamroon Suaydee, Eastern People's Network, said, "The ASEAN community will be for major sellers who can operate internationally but the farmers aren't ready yet. They need to learn and increase their potential to become exporters themselves."

Some say co-operatives would end the need for intervention, such as the Thai government's controversial rice subsidy scheme.

Agro-economists talk increasingly about two things – food security and food quality - security that there'll always be enough food to eat, and quality in an increasingly-demanding marketplace.

Another farmer says the challenge is to grow good-tasting food, without being under-sold by competitors.

Pisit Kaewchue, rice farmer, said, "I think it's on price that we have to compete but we don't know if we will be cheaper or more expensive. For now, Laos and Cambodia are cheaper than us."

Farmers know the ASEAN Economic Community offers both opportunities and challenges. Here, they believe working together, sharing machinery and exchanging knowledge will be the route to success.