The Deputy Director-General of the Department of Intellectual Property visited the people of Pak Hai, Ayutthaya, and saw an opportunity to push for the turtle liver mushroom to be registered as a new GI after being with Thai farmers for over 100 years. He expects that it will definitely create added value. Each year, the produce generates income for the community of more than 10 million baht. He has invited famous chefs to create Thai food menus and invited related agencies to develop and process it into medicines.
Ms. Kanitha Kangsuanich, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Intellectual Property, revealed that the government has an important policy to enhance Thailand’s soft power to be strong. GI products are one of the products that have identity and have the potential to compete on the world stage. The Department of Intellectual Property is accelerating the promotion of Thai GI products in all dimensions to drive the grassroots economy to be strong and generate income for local communities. Cur
rently, there are GI registered products nationwide, including food products, agricultural products, and household items, totaling 206 products, generating a value of more than 71,000 million baht per year.
This
visit to Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province in the Pak Hai area was to meet and discuss with farmers, processors and turtle liver mushroom community enterprise groups to push for turtle liver mushroom to be registered as GI with the province, leading to added value and improving the well-being of Ayutthaya people. In addition, we watched a demonstration of turtle liver mushroom menu creation by Chef Book, Mr. Boonsamit Phukkanasut, who has traveled to various sources of quality local ingredients throughout the country, and cooked a turtle liver mushroom menu, namely ‘Tart with Roasted Fish and Turtle Liver Mushroom Curry.’ This recipe will be given to the community to make it a local menu to serve the deliciousness of Thai food to both Thai and international tourists to taste, leading to job creation
, career creation and income generation for the community.
However,
‘Turtle liver mushroom’ is a plant that has been with the people of the old capital for a long time. It has a round mushroom cap shaped like an inverted pan, shiny skin, hard, thick and chewy mushroom flesh, dark brown skin mixed with light yellow, large stem base, good taste. The province is a flood plain, rich in minerals, highly acidic to moderately acidic. Some areas are sesbania forests, which are conducive to turtle liver mushroom growth. Currently, turtle liver mushrooms are commercially cultivated in conjunction with local wisdom, resulting in high-quality turtle liver mushrooms. Currently, the price of dried turtle liver mushrooms is as high as 3,500 baht per kilogram, while the price of fresh mushrooms at the farm is as high as 150 baht per kilogram, with a production volume of more than 400,000 kilograms per year, with a total market value of more than 10 million baht per year.
??With the strength of the turtle liver mushroom pr
oducing community, the Khlong Pho turtle liver mushroom community enterprise, the Sam Reuan Subdistrict Administrative Organization, and government agencies both in and outside the area, the ‘turtle liver mushroom’ product is another GI product of the future that is worth watching. After this, the Department of Intellectual Property will provide additional consultation to turtle liver mushroom farmers and integrate with relevant government agencies.
Source: Thai News Agency