Songkhla farmers introduce ‘fossil durian’ that flourishes in lignite deposits

By THE NATION

 

 

Farmers in Songkhla province are now successfully growing a new strain of durian that grows well in lignite deposits, Ekphol Salae, a member of the Kuha subdistrict administration organisation in Sabayoi district, said on Thursday (June 18).

 

“This project is backed by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, which has helped survey the areas in Kuha and Thungpor subdistricts, which are rich in fossils and lignite stones, which appear to be suitable for growing durian,” he said. “We have named the new strain ‘fossil durian’ and the first batch of 1,040 trees are expected to soon produce about 2 tonnes of fruit,” he said.

 

The new strain tastes something between the Monthong durian and Songkhla’s local strain, with exceptionally small seeds, which means more meat per fruit.

 

“Fossil durians also have thick, strong stems, while the spikes are similar to the Monthong strain,” he said.

 

Ekphol added that Kuha subdistrict administrative organisation was helping farmers by providing growing advice and publicising the produce online.

 

“So far we have received orders for more than 200 fruits and will soon start delivering durians to customers. It is highly recommended that the durians be eaten as soon as they ripen, otherwise they will lose some of the flavour,” he added.

 

“Overripe fossil durians should be turned into ice cream instead.”

 

The subdistrict administrative organisation is selling seeds at Bt100 apiece.

 

“Fossil durian trees are resilient to all types of weather and can bear fruit for 50 years,” he said.

 

Call (09) 1238 1829 for more information.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30389856

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-06-18

 

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Why is this backed by the electric generating company?

32 minutes ago, Elkski said:

Why is this backed by the electric generating company?

Yes, my thought as well. Lignite (a crude form of coal) is used by EGAT to produce electricity at the Mae Moh Power Plant, near Lampang. It is the largest of it's kind in Thailand. I am not certain why EGAT is involved with the cultivation of Durian - maybe a new venture utilizing lignite deposits they own? 

Quote from EGAT's website:-

 

 Mae Moh Power Plant can supply 50% of the electricity to the northern area, 30% to the central area, and 20% to the northeastern area of Thailand. The fuel consumption is approximately 16 million tons yearly.

 

 

 

Lignite or brown coal lies along a spectrum between moss peat and coal. Lignite which is near the moss peat end of the spectrum is not worth industrial mining. But can be an excellent fertiliser.

The reality is that coal use in power plants is decreasing rapidly, even faster during the Covid shut down (UK has not used any coal for Electricity production for over 60 days). At current rates, most coal fired power plants will be shut down by 2030 for either environmental or economic reasons. Quite possibly the power company is looking for alternative uses of the lignite land that it owns - given that developing new durian farms would take probably at least a decade.