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 Main subject - may/june 2005
continuation: South America seed production
Production Organization
Almost every country in the area are under the Law of Cultivars Protection (LPC) based on UPOV Convention in 1978, in which the protection extends to the seed and in case the producer wants to keep its own cultivar seed protected to the next crop, he can do so with no extra fees to the obtainer, independent of its area of cultivation. We must remark the law in Bolivia, contemplating a maximum area, corresponding to 100ha for soy, in which the farmer can keep its own cultivar seeds protected without paying royalties to the obtainer.
There is an activity in that area towards adopting UPOV convention from 1991, in which the protection attains the grain, that is, if the producer wants to keep its own cultivar seed protected he is allowed to do so, however obtainer fees must be paid. There is an exemption for small cultivating areas, usually up to 100 ha.
For the internal seed market there are minimum quality standards in which the seeds are evaluated in special laboratories. Each country has a Government Official Office in which seeds analyses from import, export and certification service are performed.
There are also private laboratories that analyze certified seeds as well as for companies' internal control. In that aspect, Brazil and Argentina stand out, the first with more than 200 laboratories and the second one, with more than 100. We can consider all laboratories as users of Ista quality evaluation method, but only few countries in that area have seeds laboratory qualified by Ista for issuing the orange certificate: only Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Uruguay. However, Brazil and Colombia have a laboratory that is member of Ista, and both countries are under qualifying process for issuing seeds quality certificates.
About quality evaluation yet, there are comments that several countries in that area have laboratories and qualified staff for seed health quality evaluation, including Brazil where there is an association, called Abrates, which has since the 80's a seed pathology committee.
Another aspect involving the laboratory issue is OGM proceeding seed analysis within lots of conventional seeds, in which the countries located in that area have also qualified themselves for this kind of evaluation. Seed molecular analysis can be also considered as routine procedure, in several countries in that area.
In terms of class organs, the countries have seeds producers and traders association, some with one association, others with two.
In Uruguay and Argentina there are two associations, the producers's and the traders's association, while in Brazil there is one body called Abrasem, joining four segments, that is: producers (Abrasem), traders (Abcsem), researchers (Abrates), and obtainers (Braspov). The area has also a regional association called Felas (Latin America Seed Federation), in action since 1987.
That organization has been recently driven, when it developed quality standard harmonization among the countries belonging to that area. The goal is also to create a seed certification program and a regional protection plant system, such as in other world regions or trade blocks.
Import and export
Traditionally, the countries in that area export few seeds even having high quality seeds and adapted germoplasm for several areas. However in the past few couple of years, seed exports has been increasing, mainly forages and vegetable seeds, where Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, altogether, have exported over US$ 200 million.
Other countries that are getting started are Bolivia, with vegetable, potato, corn, and fodder, and Brazil, mainly with fodder seeds for tropical areas. Countries are getting associated to International Seed Federation (ISF) for a better understanding of the international seed market. This year, with the ISF convention in Chile, the area will certainly be driven in its seeds international business.
In terms of imports, countries bring seeds from abroad, mainly vegetable and flower seeds, a segment in which only Brazil imports more than 50 million dollars a year. However, that amount is decreasing with technology improvement as well as local technologies development aiming at replacing the imports. We have potato as an example: Brazil used to import more than 100 million dollars a year and nowadays, the total amount does not attain 5 million, due to biotechnology, which allowed cleaning seeds at the lab, by meristhem culture.
Research
Cultivar protection rules allowed many private organizations to develop new cultivars - prior to that, this activity was performed almost exclusively by the government.
In some cultures, as soybeans for instance, currently more than half of the cultivars in use come from the private sector, meaning that this economical activity provides profits. It is also important to register that after LPCs, disregarding the country, the number of cultivars available to the producers has increased significantly, showing that competition is good for the business.
In terms of research support, the area has two international agricultural centers: CIP, in Peru, focused in potato, and CIAT, in Colombia focused in beans, tropical pasture, rice, and cassava.
There is also Cimmyt, in Mexico, focused in corn and wheat. These centers have contributed a lot for agriculture in that area, mainly in terms of germoplasm. South America is the central source of potato, beans, corn, tomato, pepper, peanuts, among others.
Biotechnological Material
Many countries in that area are already culturing biotechnological material, such as soybean RR and corn and cotton Bt. In this context, Argentina stands out, with over 13 million hectares of soy RR crop, and Brazil, with over 5 million. Paraguay, with soy RR; Uruguay, with both soy RR and corn Bt; Colombia, with cotton Bt; and Bolivia, beginning the process of technology adoption, are the other countries adopting biotechnological material for trade purposes. It must be noted that Brazil has recently approved the rule that facilitates corn and cotton Bt production and trading.
Co-autor: Silmar Teichert Peske - Prof. Ph.D. UFPel
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