eed info aims to stimulate  communication and information exchange among seed staff in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region. The purpose is to contribute towards the development of stronger national seed programs which supply quality seed to farmers.
      Protecting Technology and Encouraging Development is the lead article of this issue of Seed Info. The article is prepared by Harry B. Collins of Delta and Pine Land Company in reply to the article written by Zewdie Bishaw and Niels Louwaars which appeared in Seed Info No. 19. It focuses on Technology Protection System (TPS) developed by Delta and Pine Land Company and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). He argues that the technology is to the advantage of the farmers by encouraging plant breeding and protecting the investments of private sector in agricultural research. Moreover, Michael Turner from the Seed Unit of ICARDA describes alternatives for registration and certification of local varieties which are useful and adaptable to local conditions, but which may not meet the rigid criteria of variety control in the formal seed sector.
      Your editor reports on the First Congress of the African Seed Trade Association organized in Cairo Egypt by the Egyptian Seed Association which was attended by the Steering Committee members of the WANA Seed Network and the Secretariat staff. There are also news on International Seed Health Initiative for Vegetables (ISHI-Veg) from International Seed Trade Federation (FIS), genetically modified seeds from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and monitoring standard for seed laboratory accreditation from the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA).
      The section on SEED PROGRAMS includes news from Lebanon, Mauritania, Pakistan, Turkey and Yemen. Hassan Machlab reports on the release of cereal and legume varieties in Lebanon following LARI/ICARDA collaborative on farm verification trials. Ahmadou Ngaido describes the national seed sector in Mauritania based on his presentation during the plant variety protection workshop organized by ICARDA.
      In the HOW TO section, Abdoul Aziz Niane explains the ISTA Quality Assurance program. This time he describes the verification of seed testing media when a new batch of substratum or chemical is received by the seed testing laboratory. 
      There is a steady increase in the area and production of transgenic crops worldwide. At present there are demands from the seed and grain industry for testing the presence or absence of such traits. The RESEARCH section highlights new approaches in GMOs testing using herbicide bioassays and ELISA tests for seed and grain.
      The 'Focus' series covers the seed program of Algeria bringing the total of these publications to 16. We hope to complete this series in the near future.
      We wish you an enjoyable read.

Zewdie Bishaw, Editor