The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry is joining hands with Chulalongkorn University to develop the country's first ever vaccine against lumpy skin disease (LSD) in cattle.
The LSD vaccine development cooperation comes in a package of projects to be jointly implemented by the ministry and the university.
LSD, a disease of cattle and buffalo caused by a capripox virus, has affected cattle farms in several provinces. It is now tackled with imported vaccines, said Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chalermchai Sri-on.
He was speaking after a meeting on Saturday with Prof Bundhit Eua-arporn, president of Chulalongkorn University.
The LSD vaccine to be developed for mass production in the country and for export is a plant-based protein technology, said the minister.
A memorandum of understanding will be signed in the coming week, he said.
Prof Bundhit said the LSD vaccine development will be the first in a series of projects that will be rolled out by the ministry in cooperation with Chulalongkorn. The university also agreed to allow its Siamsquare Innovation District to be used by the ministry to showcase projects being undertaken by its Agritech and Innovation Centre.
Among other projects in the pipeline with Chulalongkorn is a Kaengkoi Innovation District, in which university land in Saraburi province will be used to support the creation of more foodtech and agritech start-up companies, said Alongkorn Ponlaboot, adviser to the agriculture and cooperatives minister.