Sustainble soybean seed production systems for farmer groups

Studies on growing of Chiang Mai 60 soybean variety for seed production by farmers in Amphur Mae Wang and San Pa Tong were carried out in dry season early and late rainy seasons of the year 1999-2000. Two farmers in Amphur Mae Wang and three farmers in Amphur San Pa Tong were selected to participate in the studies. In each farm the area of one rai was used to grow soybean for producing seed. The cultural practices, harvest and post-harvest management of the soybean seed production plots were under the supervise of the project's researchers. The data of growth, yield, yield components, cost of production and seed quality were recorded. The results indicated that all farmers participated in the studies have potential to grow soybean for seed production. And the soybean growers in both area can develop to be the group of soybean seed producer for commercial. Dry and rainy seasons were suitable for producing soybean seed which average yields over 300 kg per rai. And the cost of production were 10.83 and 13.59 Baht per kilogram of seed respectively. Some parts of the seed yields produced were stored for using in the next growing season where as the other parts were sold to the near by farmers. The price of soybean seeds produced in late rainy season was later high which was about 20 Baht per kilogram. This was mainly due to high demand of seeds for dry season. It was also found that the soybean seeds produced by the participated farmers could be stored over the season for the period of 3-4 months with the acceptable quality. Stored soybean seeds for that period with high quality depended on the appropriate harvest and post harvest managements. Moreover it was found that the soybean seeds stored in two layer of sealed plastic bags and kept in sealed plastic cans with or without grinded roasted rice had high germination quality than those stored in fertilizer bags with normally practice by farmers.