A knowledge transfer seminar was organized by JIRCAS for the Thai Royal Forestry Department (RFD) on February 6, 2018 in Khon Kaen City, northeastern Thailand. The seminar provided practical information to RFD engineers on developing seedlings suitable for afforestation throughout Thailand. JIRCAS is pursuing research collaboration with RFD related to afforestation of useful tree species such as teak. In northeastern Thailand where there is a lot of sandy soil, teak is difficult to grow, and JIRCAS is also conducting research to improve the soil and improve the survival rate of teak seedlings.

The seminar was conducted by Dr. Masazumi Kayama (currently Senior Researcher at the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute), who was in charge of this research. A total of 33 participants including 19 staff from RFD's afforestation research centers and afforestation research stations in various parts of the northeast region of Thailand, and other researchers from both Japan and Thailand.