The credibility of the International Rice institute (IRRI), which holds rice seeds from all over the word, was questioned by genetic-conservation and farm groups from many country yesterday.

Meanwhile jasmine-ricce farmers in the Northeast plan to hold a large rally in front of the US Embassy in Bangkok to protest against experiments by US rice breeders on Thai jasmine rice.

International groups said in statements submitted to BioThai, a Thai non-government organisation working on farmers' rights in biological resourch, that they condemned the IRRI move to allow US rice-breeders Chris Deren and Neil Rutger to take the germ plasm of Thai jasmine rice from its gene bank without signing an agreement that protected Thailand from piracy.

They also encourage and supported Thai farmers in their rally against rice theft by US breeders.

The international organisations include the European Fair Trade Association; India-based Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security; KWIA, a Belgian-base group supporting indigenous people; and the US-base Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

In its statement KWIA condemed the IRRI for "biopiracy" against indigenous peoples and traditional farmers, calling it "totally unacceptable".

Johan Bosman, KWIA's policy analyst, call on the Thai government to seriously consider withdrowing from IRRI membership.

A carbon copy of KWIA's statement was sent to the Thai Embassy in Belgium.

Oscar Zamora, professor of agriculture science at the University of the Philippines, who is on a visit to Bangkok, criticised the IRRI as an unfair international institute.

"Thailand is the donor of jasmine rice Khao Dok Mali 105 [KDM105] to IRRI, and the rice [is] now distributed all over the world. But [what the] IRRI [gave Thailand in return] were its ignorance in protecting Thailand's benefits and allowing a developed country to abuse the rights of Thai farmers", he said.

Zamora warned the KDM105 case was just the tip of the iceberg in a bid by multinational corporation to dominate the seed industry. "Today it happened to your jasmine rice, but tomorrow your durian and longan might be targets [of other international plant-breeders]", he warned.

The admission by the IRRI that it had allowed US rice-breeders to take out Thai jasmine rice seeds without signing the Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) was confirmed yesterday by the Department of Agriculture (DOA).

Somsak Singholka, director general of the DOA, said the excuse given by IRRI was it could not prepare the MTA in time for Deren and Rutger to sign since it was in a "transitional period" in enforcement of the MTA. He added that the IRRI had enforced the MTA in 1994 and Rutger had taken the seed on December 20, 1995.

The MTA is an agreement that has to be sighed by any researcher who wants to take rice seeds from the IRRI's gene bank for research, ensuring they do not patent the germplasm.

The MTA also requires the recipients of the seeds to inform the donor country of the seed transfer.