NEWS and VIEWS

Egyptian Seed Association Annual Conference, Cairo, Egypt
The Egyptian Seed Association organized an annual conference from 19-21 April 2004 in Cairo, Egypt under the theme, Seed Industry: Future and Challenges. The main purpose of the event was to exchange ideas and share experiences by bringing together the expertise of public/private seed companies, research institutes, universities and international organizations to enhance the performance of the national seed sector.

A total of 350 participants attended the meeting representing, the Egyptian, African and European seed companies as well as representatives of the People's Assembly, Ministries of Agriculture, Trade and Social Affairs, agricultural universities, agricultural research centers and NGOs from Egypt.

The participants made the following key recommendations at the end of the conference:
Future policy for the seed industry
• Develop a national seed industry strategy and enabling policy environment for the development of infrastructures and resources
• Speed up reforms and amendment of seed laws (Law No. 53 of 1966) for field crops according to national and international norms
• Limit the role of government to quality control and restrict its involvement in seed production
• Develop procedures for and adopt protection of IPRs to facilitate UPOV membership and protect breeders' rights
• Create the necessary mechanisms and legal framework for establishing seed companies
• Encourage seed companies to produce seed of all crops such as vegetables, fruits, medical and aromatic plants including self-pollinated and forage crops
• Encourage seed companies and agricultural research institutions to develop crop varieties of high productivity and good quality

Release and protection of crop varieties
• Establish variety release mechanisms providing equal opportunities for all seed companies
• Establish the necessary procedures to facilitate membership of all seed-related international organizations
• Limit the test period of field crops for registration to a period of two years
• Develop a system to register selected local varieties and encourage other parties to participate in the evaluation
• Encourage seed production of important crops to make Egypt as a major global seed supplier

Future approaches for development
• Strengthen the role of the private sector in seed production, marketing and export, and ensure collaboration between seed producers, research centers and universities through ESAS
• Ensure the development of new technologies in the seed sector applicable to all crops and varieties including GM crops
• Ensure that Egypt is represented in all seed-related meetings organized by international organizations
• Support and strengthen the gene bank and develop mechanisms for access to genetic resources by agricultural research institutions and seed companies and establish protocols to protect germplasm ownership
• Support linkages between research institutions, seed producing agencies and the Egyptian Seed Association
• Endorse the Code of Ethics developed by ESAS for the seed industry and ensure its enforcement

Noha Tharwat, ESAS, 35 Gamet El-Dowal El Arabia Street, Mohandesen 12411, Cairo, Egypt; Fax: ++20-2-7498994; E-mail: ntharwat@esasegypt.org; Website: http://www.esasegypt.org

International Seed Federation Annual Congress, Berlin, Germany
A total of 1284 delegates and accompanying persons representing the seed industry in 58 countries participated in the ISF Congress in Berlin on 24-26 May 2004. The regional seed associations from Europe, East Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and Africa were also represented. Moreover, representatives from FAO, ISTA, OECD and UPOV also attended the congress. Twenty-four exhibitors displayed products ranging from software to sophisticated agricultural machinery.

Technical meetings were well attended. In the Breeders Committee, where among others, intellectual property and sustainable agriculture were discussed, two position papers were debated and presented to the general assembly for adoption. The Vegetable and Ornamental Section meeting drew large numbers and a position paper on the definition of terms describing plant reaction to pests and pathogens was adopted. Guidelines for the handling of a dispute on essentially derived varieties of lettuce were also adopted.

The general assembly on 26 May 2004 adopted four position papers and amendments to the ISF trade and dispute settlement rules, which can be viewed on the ISF website. ISF welcomed the decision taken at the ISTA congress that allowed all ISTA accredited public and private company laboratories to issue orange certificates.

Given the complexity of the questions related to intellectual property protection of plant related inventions and access to plant genetic resources for plant breeding and varietal development, an international seminar on Protection of Intellectual Property and Access to Plant Genetic Resources was held on 27-28 May 2004. A total of 175 persons from the public and private sectors in industrialized and developing countries participated in the meeting. The proceedings of the seminar will be published later in the year. For more information, contact the ISF Secretariat.

Radha Ranganathan, ISF, Chemin du Reposoir 7, 1260 Nyon, Switzerland; Fax:++41-22-3654421, Switzerland, E-mail: r.ranganathan@worldseed.org; Website: http://www.worldseed.org

Global Status of Transgenic Crops in 2003
Global area of GM crops
In 2003, the global area of transgenic crops grew by 15% compared with 12% in 2002. The estimated global area of GM crops for 2003 was 67.7 million ha. The figure includes a provisional estimate of 3 million ha of GM soybean in Brazil, officially approved for planting for the first time. The 67.7 million ha of GM crops in 2003 was grown by 7 million farmers in 18 countries as compared to 6 million farmers in 16 countries in 2002. The increase in area between 2002 and 2003 of 15% is equivalent to 9 million ha.

During the eight-year period from 1996 to 2003, the global area of transgenic crops increased 40 fold, from 1.7 million ha in 1996 to 67.7 million ha in 2003, with an increasing proportion grown by farmers in developing countries. Almost one-third (30%) of the global transgenic crop area of 67.7 million ha in 2003, equivalent to over 20 million ha, was grown in developing countries where growth continued to be strong. The absolute growth in GM crop area between 2002 and 2003 was almost the same in developing countries (4.4 million ha) and industrialized countries (4.6 million ha), with the percentage growth more than twice (28%) in the developing countries of the South compared with the industrialized countries of the North (11%).

Global value of GM crops
In 2003, the global market value of GM crops was estimated to be $4.5 to $4.75 billion, having increased from $4 billion in 2002 when it represented 15% of the $31 billion global crop protection market and 13% of the $30 billion global commercial seed market. The market value of the global transgenic crop market is based on the sale price of transgenic seed including any technology fees that apply. The global value of the GM crop market is projected at $5 billion or more, for 2005.

Despite the on-going debate in the European Union, there is cause for cautious optimism that the global area and the number of farmers planting GM crops will continue to grow in 2004 and beyond. Taking all factors into account, the outlook for the next five years indicates continued growth in the global area of GM crops to approximately 100 million ha, with up to 10 million farmers growing GM crops in more than 25 countries. Source: CropBiotech Update Special Edition January 14, 2004