Half a million people claim Kasetsart Fair 2015 a resounding success

Kasetsart University’s annual event dedicated to agriculture draws a big crowd, and AVRDC is proud to participate in this well-attended fair.

Kasetsart means agriculture in Thai, and the recent Kasetsart Fair hosted at the Kamphaeng Saen campus of Kasetsart University attracted plenty of attention to this important human endeavor. More than half a million people attended the week-long event from 3-10 December 2015. The fair is a time for the university to showcase its academic successes and recent results from student projects, promote all aspects of agricultural trade, technologies, and products—and also share Thailand’s diversity of taste sensations, with stalls providing an astounding range of foods, drinks, and flavors.

AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center joined with the Tropical Vegetable Research Center (TVRC) to present a variety of global and traditional vegetables in a quiet garden near the central lake, offering an oasis of tranquility for visitors amid the hustle and bustle of the stands. With benches to rest on, visitors could contemplate the thriving crops while sipping hot tea made from traditional vegetables provided by James Keach, an intern to TVRC from Cornell University. Chamnong Somkul, who leads public relations for TVRC, supplied the initial enthusiasm that led to the creation of this display, and his skills as an expert public announcer entertained and informed the waves of visitors.

The garden featured different-colored vegetables to emphasize the link between color and nutrient content for health and well-being. Elite pumpkin lines developed by the AVRDC breeding program at Kamphaeng Saen generated particular interest. Visitors were also impressed by AVRDC-developed tomato, chili and vegetable soybean lines and the diversity of familiar and not-so-familiar traditional vegetables. The display of natural enemies and pheromone traps for the management of bean pod borers attracted many visitors who kept AVRDC’s IPM specialists busy explaining the interactions involved and the benefit to the environment these technologies provide. Young visitors liked the display of onions rooting in water, because the faces drawn on the bulbs helped them to understand that vegetables are living beings!

While it was impossible to meet demands for seed from visitors, many appreciated receiving a laminated bookmark that summarized AVRDC’s research for development agenda and provided contact details for future information requests. This lively, practical demonstration of the diversity of vegetables supported by clear descriptions and personal interactions greatly stimulated visitors’ interest in vegetables.

Kasetsart Fair was deemed to be a tremendous success and the professional display from AVRDC and TVRC was recognized as a highlight. Sincere thanks are owed to Chamnong and his team at TVRC and all AVRDC staff members who worked to prepare and staff such a dramatic and attractive display.

Story and photos: Fenton Beed, Sorwawit Limsiriwat