"Cucumber, chili, tomato" face risk of rights protection claims. "Boonruwee" urges "Suriya" to speed up investigation, revealing suspicious foreign capital using Thai nominees to rush registration of nearly 3,000 new plant varieties in two years.
At 10:30 a.m. on 28 Oct 2026 GMT+7. Mr. Boonruwee Yomjinda, party-list Member of Parliament and leader of the Ruamjai Thai Party. He stated at the parliament that the Ruamjai Thai Party is concerned about food security and Thai economic crops facing great challenges. He noted that foreign investors exploit legal loopholes by using Thai nominees to register new plant varieties under the Plant Varieties Protection Act B.E. 2542 (1999). He called on the government and Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to urgently investigate and decisively address this to protect the long-term interests of Thai farmers, for whom agriculture is a main livelihood.
If foreign capital uses Thai nominees to register new plant varieties, it risks undermining the sovereignty of Thailand’s economic crops. This highlights government oversight inefficiencies, allowing foreign investors to easily claim ownership of Thai plant varieties through nominees. Currently, nearly 3,000 new plant variety registration applications have been filed. The largest groups are field crops with 686 applications, corn with 530, and vegetables with 484 applications including cucumber, angled luffa, chili, and tomato—key economic vegetables.
Additionally, there are registrations for ornamental plants such as orchid genera Vanda and Impatiens. Among perennial crops, the most registered are tangerines and durian. He urged Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Suriya Jungrungreangkit to urgently review the registrations submitted in the past two years, fearing foreign takeover—especially of cucumbers, chili, and tomatoes, which are key plant varieties. He warned against repeating the basil case. If key economic crops fall under foreign capital control, vegetable prices will rise, risking loss of Thailand’s plant variety sovereignty.
Mr. Boonruwee added praise for Minister Suriya's order for the Department of Agriculture to promptly verify facts regarding CP RAM Company Limited’s registration of protection rights for four basil varieties within seven days, to ensure legal compliance and find ways to prevent foreign capital from exploiting legal loopholes to monopolize rights to Thai plant heritage. However, he remains concerned that without proper protection, native Thai basil varieties may become extinct, leaving only four private company varieties, which would then become more expensive.
