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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