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 Green line - jan/feb 2006
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PLANNING
Ista's officials met in Zurich for planning the entity's course for the next years. Among the strategies, a greater participation of both South America and Asia is included. In this sense, inclusively, the 28th Ista Congress is scheduled to take place in 2007 in Brazil together with Abrates, which will make the 15th Brazilian Seed Congress. It will be a unique event. There is a great expectation from Brazilian people due to the international aspect, with well known lecturers, and those foreign people will have the opportunity to see what are the goods about Brazil.
GMO
First, it was GM soy beans that entered Brazil illegally, and now, there are news spread all over that maize is also entering the country. It is a worry because maize is an easy-crossing specie and the farmer may sow a conventional seed and harvest a transgenic one. Up to this extent it is not a problem, if the country had a contamination tolerance of, let us say, 1% as fixed, but as it does not have, one single little seed will be enough to contaminate the whole material. Imagine the headache it will cause in case no standards are settled prior to harvest, which is close.
VEGETABLES
Most companies dedicated to vegetables seeds business deserve a special recognition for their professionalization. Using an average company as example, one can notice per its portfolio that there are more than 300 materials offered to their clients, enclosing vegetables, flowers, and spices. Having seeds available both in quantity and quality requires rather strong decisions as to have or not have a breeding program for developing varieties, as well as the production of seeds, that many times requires special climate conditions. This is one of the reasons why the international market is dominated by vegetables seeds.
REGIONAL CERTIFICATION
Seed market among the countries is increasing so much that several commercial blocks are taking actions to have a regional seed certification program based on OECD schemes. Regional certification is a reality in the European Community, making the initiative of other regions easier. When there is an international reference to the countries to follow as an example, there is a great chance of success and time saving.
PASTURE SEEDS
The market of pasture seeds is under pressure to offer higher quality materials. For that, Bolivia has just demanded that every brachiaria seed lot imported must be free of soil particles to avoid the entrance of nematoids in their country. It is known that it is possible, during conditioning brachiaria seeds, to separate the undesirable materials that are eventually present. Procedures like this make the sector more professional, with benefit for everybody.
PROTECTION
UPOV is offering a distance learning course about several aspects of cultivars protection. It is expected to require 36 hours of study, being offered both to public and private sectors. It contains comprehensive explanations, self-assessment questions and end of module tests to guide the participants through the program. Tutoring by UPOV experts provides students with the opportunity for further clarification and discussion. It is offered in English, French, German, and Spanish. Information at www.upov.int
AGILITY
Farmers are known for their disposition to test new products and several times is the cause of introducing unlicensed material in a country. An example of such situation is soybeans resistant to the herbicide glyphosate. In some countries, as Brazil, the situation was brought to its normal only with more than five years after its ascertaining, but in other countries faster actions were taken, as in Bolivia, in which course corrections were done in the first year when it was ascertained, with the registration of the materials introduced. More than 20 materials were tested, and it was ascertained that near 30% presented a low agricultural potential, inclusively some materials reached less than 30cm height. Such procedure prevented farmers from testing materials by themselves. With brave attitudes, we can achieve great actions that are beneficial to everybody.
REGIONAL PROTECTION
The European Community (EC) was the first intergovernmental organization to join to UPOV (Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties), as last June. EC has 25 members receiving 2,600 protection requests per year, in average. Such an example like this one of regional protection helps seed business a lot, since it rationalizes bureaucratic structures, minimizes piracy and makes superior materials available. Other commercial blocks are also taking actions in this way
ORANGE CERTIFICATE
ISTA (International Seed Testing Association) provided 75,000 orange certificates to be issued by the seed laboratories who are accredited. Considering that each certificate is for one seed lot and each one has 10 tons, for example, we can assume that several million hectares were cultivated with seeds analyzed by a laboratory that is accredited at an entity. The trust of the seed market on the orange certificate is really significant.
ASIA
The 2005 Congress of the Asia and Pacific Seed Association (APSA) was held in Shanghai. This was the first time since APSA was founded in 1994 that the congress had been held in China and it was also the largest such event so far, attracting some 900 participants from 35 countries. Besides the intensive trading activities, there was a full program of technical meetings and committees extending over a period three days which discuss key issues for the seed trade. Hybrid rice is one of the most active interests in the region, with wide differences in uptake between countries. Prof. Yuan Long Ping, the 'father of hybrid rice', gave an inspiring address in which he reviews the progress and prospects. He was the undoubted celebrity of the entire meeting.(News from Michael Turner).
MAIZE
Even though from South and Central America, maize is practically grown every where and has been researched in such a way that we can find nearly 600 products that contain this cereal. However even so, studies are undertaken to redefining the role of corn in the world`s future through research, market development, public policy, production and education. Corn is really a versatile, natural, biodegradable, renewable resource.
MARKET
There are many obstacles to a market, like between people or institutions and it is even greater when countries are involved. In this sense, the most common non-custom obstacles refer to seeds health, production, social environment and currently, intellectual property is becoming stronger. Mechanisms are being developed for minimizing the problem caused by piracy. A country, in which agriculture is one of the economy strong holds, can not make things easy to illegal actions.
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