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Iowa State University Seed Science Center scientists facilitate agreements between the 14 member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to improve seed policies and regulations and to reduce seed trade barriers in the region

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Ames, Iowa
June 27, 2007

Source: Iowa State University Seed Science Center
Iowa Seed & Biosafety newsletter Spring 2007

by Sabrina Shields-Cook

Joe Cortes and Adelaida Harries, scientists at the Iowa State University Seed Science Center, recently facilitated technical agreements between the 14 member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to improve seed policies and regulations and to reduce seed trade barriers in the region. The ultimate goal of their project is to help African farmers make a living off their land by giving them access to the best seed varieties available.

“Farmers in Africa are not just looking to their land for something to eat, they are looking for something they can profit from–like farmers here in Iowa,” said Cortes. “With an increasing amount of U.S. corn being used for biofuels, there will be less corn sent to Africa for food. It is critical that African farmers produce more–not only for food security, but to make a living.”

With funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and through the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Cortes and Harries worked with the 14 member countries of the SADC to identify issues that were impeding the acquisition of new seed varieties and limiting trade in the region.

“Africa is very different from the U.S.,” explained Cortes. “In the U.S., seed companies make decisions about which varieties to release based on their own testing. In Africa, they have a government variety release system. The government of each individual country must test and approve or reject new seed varieties in a process that takes three years.”

Governments often don’t have the resources to do the variety testing and it takes a long time for a variety to be approved for commercialization; thus, farmers’ access to new varieties is delayed. To resolve this issue, SADC has proposed that the 14 countries act as a trading block with the understanding that if a new seed variety was tested and approved in two countries, it could be marketed in any of the 14 countries.

Cortes and Harries also suggested that the governments provide accreditation to individuals, testing labs, or organizations to give them the authority to conduct field inspections and seed tests on behalf of the government as part of the seed certification process. As a result of the efforts of Cortes and Harries’ team, the Permanent Secretaries of the 14 member countries of the SADC have endorsed these agreements, including the harmonization of all field and seed laboratory standards.

A science-based quarantine pest list for the 17 crops produced in the region has also been established, eliminating many pathogens that did not need to be on the quarantine list. In addition, Cortes and Harries developed a Seed Import/Export manual template which the 14 countries are currently using to develop their own Seed Import/Export manuals.

“This is important because each country has control over their own manual–they are the process owners,” said Harries. “Our next step is to work on implementation [of the manuals] at a national level with each individual country.”

Since the agreements standardize regulations for all 14 countries, it is expected that they will significantly reduce time-consuming administrative procedures that have impeded both the acceptance of new seed varieties and the ease of trade in the region. This will also facilitate seed trade for Iowa and U.S.-based seed companies in the 14 countries.

The 14 Permanent Secretaries of the member countries of the SADC have endorsed all agreements and official signatures on the technical documents are expected in the summer of 2007.

Cortes and Harries have facilitated more than 10 workshops in southern Africa over the past two years. They will return to Africa several times in 2007 to continue working on this project.

 

 

 

 

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