12/13/99

Contacts:
Joe Cortes, Seed Science Center, (515) 294-5363
Brian Meyer, Agriculture Information, (515) 294-0706

ISU HELPS TO HARMONIZE CENTRAL AMERICAN SEED REGULATIONS

AMES, Iowa -- Six Central American countries have agreed to standardize their seed policies and regulations. The agreements came after a year of discussions coordinated by the Seed Science Center at Iowa State University.

"The agreements should open new markets for seed in the region, making it easier for seed to move across borders," said Joe Cortes, director of the center's international programs. "It also should speed up access to better seeds for farmers, whether it's seed produced within the region or imported from the United States and other countries."

The changes may offer new opportunities for the U.S. seed industry. Currently, Central America is a small market for U.S. seed. In 1997 the region ranked 10th in the world as a market for U.S. seeds, which includes all seed not just field-crop seed.

"Most importantly, we've shown that regional harmonization of seed policies can be done, and we did it in a year," Cortes said. "We're now beginning to establish a similar project for South American countries, which are major seed-trading partners with the United States."

In November, the ministers of agriculture from the six Central American countries -- Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Panama -- signed agreements covering four areas: seed certification, variety evaluation and release, plant variety protection and phytosanitary requirements. The pacts focus on five field crops: corn, soybeans, rice, sorghum and field beans.

Over the past year, 12 workshops were held in Central America, organized by the Seed Science Center and the International Regional Organization for Plant and Animal Health, an institution that supports plant-health agencies in Central America. Participating in the World Bank-funded project were government officials, scientists, technical experts and business people. The workshops resulted in new policy recommendations, which were first approved by the region's vice ministers of agriculture and then by the ministers of agriculture.

The agreements are leading to the following changes, said Cortes:

• Most dramatically, a new phytosanitary system will help ensure decisions on importing disease-free seeds are based on science. Now, where there were once 93 phytosanitary requirements on seed produced within the region, now there are two. Where there were once 87 tests required for seed imported from outside the region, now there are 20.
• Seed companies will now be able to legally protect their varieties, and public and private plant breeders can collect royalties on materials they develop. Plant variety protection laws have already passed in two countries and are pending in others.
• The region now will have common field and lab standards to certify seed. Once certified, seeds can be sold in other countries of the region without additional certification.
• Variety evaluation, which in the past took up to three years, now will take one growing season. Data from breeders on their varieties will now be accepted. The changes should result in faster access to improved crops for farmers.

"Only 5 to 10 percent of the region's farmers use improved seed every year," Cortes said. "The rest use seed they've saved after harvest. Once more information is out on new varieties, it may help farmers increase their yields, which are skimpy compared to the same crops grown in the United States."

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