Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Namwa banana prices soar
Apinya Wipatayotin, Published on 21/08/2024
» The loss of banana trees during the hot season has seen the price of popular namwa variety skyrocket, with further rises likely in the next few months, according to wholesalers.
Sparing some expense
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 21/08/2016
» When my now adult children were in primary school, bananas were so cheap that we fed kluay namwa to our pet birds. My late father, who was visiting from the Philippines, made it his duty to feed the birds while my husband and I were at work and the children were in school.
Banana split
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 17/08/2016
» High on the list of fruits Thais cannot live without is kluai namwa, or cultivated banana, a tropical strand only grown in South and Southeast Asia. The cultivated banana has long been an affordable, ubiquitous food staple for Thais, the same way apples are for Westerners.
The fear of becoming a banana state
News, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 15/08/2016
» 'The company changed the pattern of the rains, accelerated the cycle of harvests and moved the river from where it had always been." This vivid line is from the book One Hundred Years of Solitude, a magnum opus written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a Nobel Prize-winning writer.
Bean there, drunk that
News, Published on 14/05/2016
» High up in the scenic altitude of Doi Tung, staff at a wildlife breeding centre are producing one of the world's most prized coffees from the excrement of furry, four-legged animals.
Going bananas over Chinese investment
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 20/04/2016
» Kluai hom -- or the Cavendish banana -- found itself in the spotlight recently on social media and in local news. The issue involves Chinese investors renting land in Chiang Rai to grow kluai hom. Local villagers complained about water because the farm sucked up a large volume of it, leaving so little for local farmers. Fears about the use of chemical fertilisers also arose. Another problem is that the practice might be against the law, which reserves the occupation of farmer for Thais. The public is alarmed because Chinese-backed kluai hom farming in Laos has already proved a disaster. Toxic pesticides are dumped into the river, while environmental management is below par.
Fruit migration brings sweet joy to the world
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 07/04/2013
» During a visit to the Philippines a few years ago, I asked a cousin, who was an agricultural extension officer, if he could give me a sapling of a banana I had been craving for a long time. A plaintain locally known as saba, it is as common in the Philippines as the kluay namwa is in Thailand.
A rafting rally on the Phet River
Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 20/07/2012
» The Fourth Rubber Boat Rafting Race to promote conservation along the Phet River in Phetchaburi will take place on Aug 4 from 1pm.
Grow your own when prices go bananas
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 20/05/2012
» During my last visit to the Philippines in November last year, I bought bananas for 100 pesos (73 baht) a hand or bunch. I thought those were the most expensive bananas I had ever bought. I told my sister, who simply loves the fruit, that they would have cost me only about 20-25 baht in Bangkok. I never dreamed that only six months later, I would see bananas of the kluay hom variety selling for 75 baht a hand at Klong Toey market, and 80 baht at Pak Klong market.
FTI likes herbs to lower pill imports
Business, Nanchanok Wongsamuth, Published on 13/01/2012
» The government should support Thailand's herbal industry in order to lower the country's medicine imports, now worth 60-70 billion baht annually, says Chernporn Tengamnuay, honourary chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries' pharmaceutical industry club.