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 Main subject - nov/dec 2003
XIII Brazilian Seed Congress shows scientific exuberance and
Technology
Event settles the position of the sector as for the liberation of transgenic soybean seed
The 13th Brazilian Seed Congress, accomplishment of the Brazilian Association of Seed Technology (Abrates), occurred from September 22nd to 26th, in Gramado, Rio Grande do Sul, it showed the whole exuberance and progresses of science and technology in the sector. Besides the lectures, conferences and panels that developed the theme of the event, "Seed: Genetics and Technology for the Man of the Field", the 816 technical papers taken by universities and research centers from all over the country and exterior revealed the growth of the investigation in the area.
The emission of two official documents settled the position of the presents and of the entities represented in the event about the liberation, by the Federal Government, on September 25th, the planting of the transgenic soybean seed that had entered in an illegal way in Brazil.
There were more than 900 participants that circulated, for five days, through the places of the Conventions Center of the Highland Hotel. The presence, in the opening actions and in the first day of debates, of the Interim Minister of Agriculture, José Amauri Dimarzio, proved the recognition and the importance that the public power had in the congress and in the own seed sector of the country. Dimarzio, in his speech, said that he was at "home", because he is also considered a seedsman.
Another outstanding participation was the one of dr. Norbert Leist (Ista president) that approached the Program of Technical Collaboration of the international organism with Abrates.
From Tuesday, 23rd to Friday, 26th, paraded through the saloon of actions of the Convention Center a group of themes that drew the current situation of seed science and technology, without disrespecting other essential aspects to the producers, merchants, researchers and users, such as legislation, politics and partnerships for the sector.
The beginnings of the afternoons were reserved for the posters sessions. Parallel events enriched the Congress. It was the case of the IV Brazilian Symposium of Forest Seeds, that had a vast programming, from September 23rd to 26th; of the Abrates Committees meetings; of the installation, by José Amauri Dimarzio, of the Sectorial Camera of the Productive Chain of Vegetables; of the meeting of the Brazilian Association of Seed Producers (Abrasem); of the encounter that negotiated the regulation of the Seed Law; that gathered the main companies and entities of the sector from the country and abroad; and of the Assembly of Abrates, that elected the new director of the entity for the next two years.
Manifests - The event ended up coinciding with the emission of the Temporary Measure 131 that liberated the planting of the pirated transgenic soybean seed. The fact provoked in the participants of the Congress an immediate reaction, rendered through the publication of two notes, one published before the emission of the TM, and other after the Measure. In the documents the entities alert for the dangers of the legalization of what is illegal, for the threats to the national, public and private researches, and for the need of the liberation of the multiplication of the RR soy bean cultivars already tested and registered in the Mapa, as the ones developed by Embrapa and Coodetec.
THE INTERIM MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE OPENS CONGRESS
The interim Minister of Agriculture, José Amauri Dimarzio, was the opening prominence of the 13th Brazilian Congress of Seeds. He uttered the inaugural conference when, besides showing optimism for the future of agriculture in the country; he dedicated much of his speech to the controversy of the liberation of transgenic seeds. "We have to accelerate the seed producers' access to varieties ". Dimarzio emphasized that it is necessary to seek for a balance in this issue, without radicalisms.
The minister's pronouncement clearly showed good perspectives for the seed sector in the country. He also reminded the increase of the agricultural productivity in Brazil and its reflexes in the seed industry, whose production is responsible for annual revenue of 1,2 billion dollars, cipher which puts Brazil among the largest five of the world. "Who is in doubt that the agribusiness is the vocation of Brazil? It is our way of living ", he asserted. The sector takes on 50% of the national exports. "We have increased our productivity with the same cultivated area", he observed.
Dimarzio, during the solemnity, was honored by the congress organization afterwards; he also opened the agribusiness table, one of the parallel events of the Congress, accomplishment of the Brazilian Association of Seed Technology (ABRATES).
The president of the entity, Ademir Assis Henning, in his manifestation, honored the 120 years of the Agronomy School Eliseu Maciel Agronomy from the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), among the oldest of the country and being an international reference in the seeds area. Professor Flávio Faria da Rocha, one of the responsible for the development of the Brazilian seed industry, was honored in professor's Cilas Pacheco Camargo manifestation.
It was exhibited even a video on the 120 years of the Agronomy School and all the former-students, that were in the event, stood up and thanked the homage with applauses.
Record - The president of the Congress, Antônio Eduardo Loureiro da Silva, when opening the event, underlined the expressive number of 816 technical works that were presented and the diversified programming, in harmony with the chosen central theme, "Seed: Genetics and Technology for the Man of the Field".
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