On March 21, 2022, Assoc. Prof. Siree Chaiseri, Ph.D., Director of Program Management Unit for Competitiveness (PMUC), together with members of Agricultural and High-Value Food Program Subcommittee, paid a visit and viewed the latest progress of the Agricultural Machinery Standards Testing Unit Project, with Assoc. Prof. Bancha Kwanyuen, Ph.D., project leader, and the research team from the National Agricultural Machinery Center, Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus, as administrators of the project. The objectives of the Agricultural Machinery Standards Testing Unit Project was to support product quality testing according to national and international standards and to support exports to all regions around the world, as well as to provide services to the private sector including the agricultural machinery dealers in Thailand. This was a project under the request of the Ministry of Commerce and the Industry Council, to unlock export problems for Thai entrepreneurs.
National Agricultural Machinery Center has a primary mission to test different types of national standards, such as testing walk-behind tractors; water-cooled small diesel engine; standard testing for the efficiency of sugarcane harvesters; performance testing according to company requirements, such as the CENTRIFUGAL pump test, the cattle-feed forage shredder test, fine sprayer test, haze-type sprayer test, soil preparation equipment performance testing, performance test of rotary hoe cultivators, rubber-wheeled tractors performance test, etc. Such tests were designed to support and promote investment and expand the scope of the country’s quality standards. Additionally, the goal is to support the sale and export of agricultural machinery products, for which there is a growing market in the neighboring countries (CLMV), which is Thailand’s No. 1 agricultural machinery export market, accounting for 40% of the total export value, especially for the agricultural machinery that has high demand such as water pumps, and small four-wheel tractors and plows, etc. Currently requests for international standard certification for the purpose of exporting must be approved by a testing center that is specifically recognized by ANTAMANTAM, which established a main testing center in China. Establishment of a quality standards testing center in Thailand will be provide convenience and reduce the cost of testing agricultural machinery. It is also a preparation for quality standards to support future market penetration in the African region.
