A young Thai farmer was delighted to successfully grow pink rice plants after three years.<br /><br />Agriculture graduate Chaturong Chompusa, 31, quit his office job to help on his family's farm in Phitsanulok, northeastern Thailand.<br /><br />He bought Riceberry seeds from Kanchanaburi province in 2013 but in 2016 there was a pink mutation, which caused the normally-green rice plant stems to turn pink.<br /><br />Local officials told Chaturong to destroy the plant but he defied their instructions and set about using the seeds to develop more pink rice through selective reproduction each season.<br /><br />He mixed the pink Riceberry plant with standard rice until he had successfully cultivated pink rice plants over three years.<br /><br />The farmer now has an entire field of pink rice plants and has nicknamed the strain 'Pink Lady', which takes around 120 days to grow.<br /><br />He will harvest the crops later this year and the rice can sell for around 80 Baht per kilogram. <br /><br />Chaturong said last Tuesday (Jan 7) that the field is monitored by his family and since details of their new strain of rice emerged, they have been welcoming a steady stream of visitors who want to see the pink rice.<br /><br />He said: "We are only a small family with a relatively small plot of land but it has been very busy with people viewing the rice.<br /><br />"We would like to welcome everyone to see the field but they must be careful with the rice because it is very fragile.<br /><br />''The rice is actually very tasty. It's very high quality so I will continue growing more.''
