Nairobi, Kenya
March 15, 2007
President of Zambia addresses
180 regional and international delegates
His Excellency Mr. Levy Patrick
Mwanawasa, S.C., President of the Republic of Zambia opened the
seventh annual Congress of the
African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) held form 6 to 9th
March in Livingstone, Zambia.
His Excellency was accompanied by the Zambian Minister for Trade
and the Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives, as well as
other senior government officials.
“It is clear that the seed
industry in Zambia has demonstrated great response to our policy
framework which has emphasized partnership between government
and private seed sector…and we feel in Zambia that action is
needed to strengthen trade in seed…Given the sensitivity and
bio-security issues relating to seed, it is clear that such
trading in seed can only be undertaken if the countries work
together to develop harmonized laws and regulations to be not
only the backbone of such trade but also to encourage the
trade,” stated Mr. Mwanawasa in his address.
The 7th Annual Congress attracted
180 delegates from 33 countries. Delegates included
representatives from regional and international bodies such as
the International Seed Federation (ISF), The International Seed
Testing Association (ISTA), The Union for the Protection of New
Plant Varieties (UPOV), the African Organization for
Intellectual Property (OAPI), the Eastern Africa Seed Committee
(EASCOM), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
(COMESA), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the
United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the African Union (AU) and
the Asia Pacific Seed Association (APSA).
Of keen interest to the group was
a half-day UPOV workshop on the protection of new plant
varieties. Apart from the presentation made by the Vice
Secretary General of UPOV, other speakers also presented the
situation of the protection of new plant varieties in their
sub-region such as the African Organization for Intellectual
Property Rights (OAPI) for 16 countries in West Africa and the
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). Discussions
centered on the practical aspects of the protection of new plant
varieties and its harmonization at regional level.
Following the UPOV workshop, ISF
facilitated a half-day workshop on seed treatment. Seed
treatment experts from various companies and the Secretary
General of ISF presented various topics including application
technology and chemical loading, operator and user safety,
labeling and waste management of treated seeds, trends and new
technology in seed treatment, and seed treatment: a tool for
sustainable agriculture integration in the seed business.
The first topic of the Congress
itself was “Towards a Harmonized Seed Trade in Africa:
Coordination Efforts between the Regional Economic Communities”.
Representatives of Western Africa, Eastern Africa and the
Southern Africa sub-regions presented their achievements in this
field and also their future programs to bring the harmonization
process to an end. The private seed sector is looking forward to
the implementation of the agreements reached under the
harmonization and urged the regulators to turn them into
reality.
Other Congress topics included
“Development of Private Seed Companies in Africa – “SEEDS” (Seed
Enterprise Enhancement and Development Services)”, “Highlights
of the Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) of the International
Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
(IT-PGRFA)”, “The Importance of Horticultural Seed Trade in
Africa: Particularities and Appropriate Rules for Development”,
“Status of Biosafety Protocol for the Commercialization of
Genetically Modified Seeds in Africa” and more.
Before closing, the General
Assembly confirmed that the 8th AFSTA Annual Congress 2008 will
be held in Casablanca, Morocco, from 26 to 29th February 2008.
AFSTA continues to organize
technical training related to seeds to build capacity of its
members and dissemination of information on the progress in
harmonization with a view to promoting seed trade. AFSTA is a
non-profit, non-political association with a mission to promote
development of seed industries and national seed associations,
to facilitate farmers’ access to improved varieties. AFSTA
represents the African seed industry with 67 members in 34
countries.
The full version of President
Mwanawasa’s speech is available at
www.afsta.org.
All the papers of AFSTA Congress 2007 are available on request
from the AFSTA Secretariat (afsta@afsta.org).
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