AFGHANISTAN SEED AND CROP IMPROVEMENT SITUATION

XII. STRATEGY AND APPROACHES FOR IMPROVEMENT

XII.6. STANDARDS

XII.6.1. CONCEPTS

Standards are applied to seed fields and lots for 3 purposes: (1) to establish and abide by known and uniform quality levels; (2) to ensure identification of seed of better quality; and (3) to help suppliers and users identify the quality of their seed.

The level of any standards depends on the stage of development of the seed industry. It would be absurd to expect to apply developed-industry standards to undeveloped conditions. Standards should not be considered as unchangeable; they should be subject to change as technology improves and producers are able to reach higher quality levels. Standards should reflect the best level of quality which is achievable at reasonable cost (and seed price) under local economic, technical and seed industry conditions, and which will give farmers a benefit under local agricultural conditions.

XII.6.2. ESTABLISHING UNIFORM STANDARDS

A country's seed law should establish seed standards which can be achieved by local producers, and which will benefit farmer seed-users.

A national-level committee should be convened to establish specific standards. The committee should include representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, ICARDA, ISE, FAO, NGO's, and all agencies involved in seed and crop improvement.

Standards should be understood to be changeable as conditions change. For this reason, they should not be in the seed law, but in regulations under the law, so they are easier to change.

XII.6.3. FIELD STANDARDS

The first consideration is, what are the field conditions; what can be economically controlled; what benefit would this have for farmers?

Field standards should include minimum standards for plants of the crop variety; and maximum standards for undesirable plants such as other crops, other varieties of the same crop, weeds, diseased plants, etc.

In Afghanistan, the major problems in wheat seed fields which should be included in standards, and implications for standards, are:

Rye (the primary other crop). Rye competes with the wheat, and reduces yields and contaminates the wheat seed. Rye can be recognized easily and rogued out. Standards should allow no (or very little) rye plants in wheat seed fields at maturity/harvest.
Diseases (loose smut, bunt, rust). To the extent that the improved seed variety is resistant to a disease, none should be allowed in the field. If the variety is susceptible, seed (to plant the seed field and the harvested seed crop) should be treated; and, diseased plants should be rogued from the field. Standards should allow a small tolerance of diseased plants in the field, in this case.
Troublesome weeds (field bindweed convolvulus spp, white top, wild oats, etc.). While some troublesome weeds can be rogued out to prevent their seed from mixing with the wheat seed, this does not eradicate them from the field. Wild oats can and should be rogued out of the field, so the standards should allow a very small tolerance. White top can also be rogued out easily so that seed-bearing plants are not present when the wheat seed is harvested. For bindweed, farmers essentially have no reasonable control and it occurs in almost every field, so it should not be considered in field inspection unless the infestation is so bad that the wheat plants cannot be properly examined.
Other varieties of wheat (which reduce yield, are susceptible to disease, etc.). Reportedly, most Afghan wheat varieties can be visually identified in the field, especially at mature plant stages. These must be rogued out, to ensure varietal purity of the seed. Only a small tolerance should be allowed for other-variety plants in the field inspection.

Fields should be carefully rogued to prepare them for inspection for approval to produce seed. Each field should be inspected, at least at the mature plant stage, and may also be inspected earlier if the presence of disease can be best-determined at an earlier stage.

Field inspection should be carried out by trained inspectors from the agency responsible for seed production. As/when seed certification or similar external quality programs develop, they can also make field inspections.

XII.6.4. SEED STANDARDS

Seed standards set specific levels of acceptable quality in the harvested seed. Factors which should be considered, and included in established standards, include:

Physical purity (% pure seed of the crop variety). The % of pure crop seed is a measure of how clean the seed are and how pure for the variety they are. It measures not only field roguing, but the cleaning/processing operation. With good field roguing and even traditional cleaning, Afghan wheat seed should be able to achieve high standards of purity, such as at least 96% (the typical Afghan farmer probably can recognize this much non-seed material in his seed; if he had the opportunity to select his seed, he would be able to select the good seed). This leaves 4% for inert material, other varieties, other crops, and weed seed; most of this should be inert material.
Other varieties of wheat. The primary value of good seed is that it gives the farmer the benefits of an improved variety. In Afghanistan, some wheat varieties can be distinguished visually during the laboratory purity analysis, while some others cannot. In most cases, the plants of other varieties can be identified in the field, and the plants can be rogued out. Thus, there should be only a very small tolerance allowed for seed of other wheat varieties in the seed. A few seed should be allowed per kg of wheat seed.
Other crops (especially rye). These can (and should) be rogued out completely in the field. However, to allow for a few "escape" plants which were not seen in the field, a very small tolerance should be allowed in seed, such as a few seed per kg of wheat seed.
Weed seed. Whitetop seed should be easily removed in cleaning; bindweed seed can be removed, with some more difficulty. Wild oat seed are more difficult to remove, but can be removed by special adjustment of specific seed cleaners. However, this equipment is not generally available in Afghanistan, so some reasonable allowance must be made for traditional cleaning. White top seed should not be allowed; a small allowance made for bindweed seed; and somewhat more allowance for wild oat seed (when seed processing develops, all three should not be allowed at all). Total weed seed should not be more than a small fraction of 1% of the weight of the seed.
Inert material (trash, stems, leaves, dirt, etc.). Traditional cleaning can remove most but not all inert. A reasonable allowance, such as up to 4%, must be allowed. In emergency cases where cleaning must be done rapidly, the allowance for inert can be increased.
Germination (% of the seed which can produce good crop plants in the field). Wheat seed (if it receives sufficient water to mature normally in the field) under Afghan conditions should normally have high germination. Most seed is probably above 90% germination, so this would be a reasonable level for quality standards.