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Plant variety protection and farmer's rights authority are focus of meetings in India


Alexandria, Virginia, USA
September 30, 2011

Source: Newsletter of the American Seed Trade Association

Representatives from the American Seed Trade Association, the U.S. seed industry and academia traveled to India Sept. 12-13, 2011, to meet with the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Seed Association of India with the goal of advancing ASTA's relationship with the Indian seed industry and identifying ways to partner.

Currently the Indian seed industry is valued at $1.5 billion, according to the National Seed Association of India. They have annual growth rate projected at 12-15 percent, making it a $3 billion industry by 2015.

"There's no doubt that the seed industry in India is growing," says Bernice Slutsky, ASTA vice president of science and international affairs. "It is vital that India and the United States implement and establish similar seed legislations to facilitate the orderly exchange of seed between the two countries.

"As the Indian seed industry identifies and releases new varieties with unique traits, it's important to have cooperative agreements to improve the global development and movement of seed."

From the discussions, it was agreed upon that work could be done jointly with regards to procedures for DUS (distinctness, uniformity and stability) tests for Plant Variety Protection (PVP) applications. Another area of joint interest identified was technology transfer.

Andy LaVigne, ASTA president and chief executive officer; Slutsky; Dana Rewoldt, Syngenta Seeds senior patent attorney; Ajai Rana, RiceTec, Inc.'s Savannah Seeds chief executive officer and managing director; and Miller McDonald, The Ohio State University Department of Horticulture and Crop Science professor emeritus, participated in these meetings.

"This meeting was really focused on exchanging information and better understanding their PVP system," LaVigne says. "As a group we learned a great deal about the regulatory part of India's seed industry, which will be helpful in the future as more companies look to partnering opportunities in that region."

In a meeting with India's Ministry of Agriculture, Rewoldt presented the differences between the United States' and India's legal framework and plant variety protection practices.

This presentation led to discussion about DUS testing and the use of databases in the United States, the use of molecular markers, the relationship between breeders and PVP officials and users of the PVP system.

McDonald shared a comparative analysis of the India Seed Law and the U.S. Federal Seed Act.

Similar information was shared in meetings with the National Seed Association of India and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. In these meetings, Rana talked about users of the PVP system and provided them with information from a company perspective.

More follow up work will be needed, but these meetings were insightful and the issues align with ASTA's long term strategic plan, Slutsky says.
 



More news from: ASTA - American Seed Trade Association*


Website: http://www.betterseed.org/

Published: September 30, 2011



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