Seed Info 28, January 2005

S E E D I N F O

Official Newsletter of the WANA Seed Network

No. 28, January 2005

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Meetings and Courses_______________________________________________________
Announcements of meetings, seminars, workshops and training courses appear in this section. Please send us national, regional or international announcements for workshops, seminars and training courses organized in your country for inclusion in the next issue.

Conferences

AFSTA Annual Congress 2005, 16-18 March 2005, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
The Cameroonian Seed Trade Association (ACOSEC) under the aegis of the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) will organize the AFSTA Annual Congress 2005. The congress will bring together seed people from Africa and the rest of the world and provide an excellent opportunity to create or strengthen business linkages. The AFSTA Annual Congress 2005 will be organized under the theme: 'Problems of Profitability of Seed Activity in Africa.' However, other sub-topics and specific seed problems for the continent will be discussed. The venue for the congress is Djega Palace hotels in Yaoundé. The registration form and the program along with all the details are available at http://www.afsta.org. For more information, contact: AFSTA Secretariat, P. O. Box 2428 KNH, Nairobi, Kenya; Fax: ++ 254-2-727-861; E-mail: afsta@kenyaweb.com; Website: http://www.afsta.org

ISTA Ordinary Meeting 2005, 25-28 April 2005 Bangkok, Thailand.
This meeting will discuss and decide the proposals for changes to the ISTA International Rules for Seed Testing and the business of the Association, with the international participation of ISTA delegates and representatives from both the seed industry and governments, including experts in seed technology, scientific research and laboratory accreditation. The meeting will also discuss the ISTA Technical Committees and Task Forces (2004-2007); Rules Chapter for GMO testing; results of the ISTA GMO proficiency tests; accreditation of seed testing laboratories to issue ISTA Certificates for GMO testing; the new layout of ISTA rules; and the seed lot size for cereals. For more information contact: ISTA, Zürichstrasse 50, P.O. Box 308, 8303 Bassersdorf, Switzerland. Fax: ++41-1-8386001; E-mail: executive.office@ista.ch; Website: http:// www.seedtest.org

West and Central Asian Regional Workshop on Plant Variety Protection Under the UPOV Convention, 8-10 May 2005, Karaj, Iran.
The workshop will be organized by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants in cooperation with the Ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture of Iran, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas with the financial assistance by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan. The participants are government officials responsible for plant variety protection system invited from Azerbaijan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan where funding is already available from Japan. However, the workshop is open to other interested countries from the region that wish to participate provided that they can cover their travel costs and daily allowances. The Seed and Plant Certification and Research Institute will cover all local costs including accommodation and meals. If you are interested to participate please contact: A.J.G. van Gastel, Seed Unit, ICARDA; E-mail: a.vangastel@cgiar.org

8th International Workshop on Seeds: Germinating New Ideas, 8-13 May 2005, Brisbane Australia.
The International Society for Seed Science announced that the 8th International Workshop on Seeds will be held from 8-13 May 2005 in Brisbane, Australia. The workshop will cover a diverse range of topics of interest to those in seed science research and in the seed industry. The papers cover the following topics: (i) Seed development; (ii) Seed germination and dormancy; (iii) Seed desiccation and conservation; (iv) Seed ecology; (v) Seed biotechnology; and (vi) Seed biology of Australian native species. The deadline for payment of workshop registration is 4 March 2005.

The trade exhibition will include leading service providers and will be held concurrently with the workshop. The exhibition aims to provide an extension of the conference experience and an opportunity to promote products, meet suppliers, delegates and speakers and extend the networks with the leaders in the industry. All enquires should be addressed to: Krys Henshaw or Alison Carney, 8th International Workshop on Seeds, c/o Organizers Australia, P.O. Box 1237, Milton QLD 4064, Australia; Fax: ++61-7-33710555; Email: info@seedbio2005.asn.au; Website: http://www.seedbio2005.asn.au

ISF 2005 Annual Congress, 30 May to 1 June 2005, Santiago, Chile.
The ISF congress brings together the largest number of seed people from all over the world and provides a forum for discussion on topics ranging from crop specific issues to trade and arbitration to intellectual property and plant breeding. It is a meeting place for colleagues to exchange scientific, technical and commercial information related to seed production and the trading floor provides commercial opportunities for seed and planting material. Topics on the agenda of the various crop sections and technical committees will include, among others:

•	Essential derivation in cotton, oilseed rape and maize, codes of conduct and an arbitration procedure in case of disputes
•	GM crop trends for various crops in Chile and other Southern American countries
•	Presentation of the Chilean seed industry and the tropical grass and forage, and vegetable seed markets in Latin America
•	Traceability, seed health testing and pathogen coding
•	Industry wide position papers on agro-biodiversity, protection of hybrid parental lines, terminology for abiotic stresses and others

For the second time, the Seed Treatment and Environment Committee will organize a seminar on Seed Treatment on 2 June 2005. The full information package on the congress and seminar will be available by January 2005 on the congress website: http://www.worldseed2005.com. For more information contact: ISF, Chemin du Reposoir 5-7, 11260 Nyon, Switzerland. Fax: ++41-22-3654421; E-mail: isf@worldseed.org; Website: http://www.worldseed.org

InterDrought-II: The 2nd International Conference on Integrated Approaches to Sustain and Improve Plant Production Under Drought Stress, 26-30 September 2005, Rome, Italy.
InterDrought-II follows the first symposium held in 1995 in Montpellier, France, which provided an excellent platform for presenting, discussing and integrating results of both basic and applied research towards the development of solutions to crop production under drought-prone conditions. The objective of InterDrought-II is to serve as a platform for presenting and debating key issues and strategies relevant for increasing yield and stability of crops under drought conditions through genetic improvement and crop management approaches. For more information and for registration visit the website at http://www.plantstress.com/id2/

Courses

Agrobiodiversity, Biotechnology, Plant Breeding and Seed Sector Development, 25 April to 1 July 2005, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
The ten- week course on agrobiodiversity, biotechnology, plant breeding and seed sector development aims to enhance participants' capabilities to implement international agreements, policies and regulations, to deal with new issues and problems in the management of seed and plant breeding programs, and to manage participatory approaches and new technical developments of strategic importance for the sustainable use of genetic resources. For further information on the courses, contact: International Agricultural Center, P.O. Box 88, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands; Fax: +31-317-495395; Email: training.iac@wur.nl

Global Open Agriculture and Food University.
The Global Open Agriculture and Food University is a CGIAR initiative for open distance learning and capacity strengthening that serves traditional and open universities throughout the world. The university's goal is to strengthen the capacity of postgraduate students, researchers, and other professionals in food and agriculture (including livestock, forestry, fishery) to enhance agricultural development, poverty reduction, and food security.

A range of distance education technologies shall be used to fill knowledge gaps, improve existing postgraduate agriculture and natural resources degree programs in the developing world, and offer high-quality degree programs. The university will use: Web-based materials, CD-Rom, traditional text, and other technologies in a variety of languages so that participants from all regions of the developing world may benefit. The university plans to provide course content based on CGIAR research and professional and applied academic teaching in partnership with regional and national institutions. By complementing and leveraging existing distance education courses, the university could provide flexible, affordable, and accessible postgraduate education while rapidly building high-quality capacity for agricultural development. For more information, contact: Michael Rubinstein, Tel: ++1-202-8625670; E-mail: m.rubinstein@cgiar.org or Sarwat Hussain; Tel: ++1-202-473-5690; E-mail: s.hussain@cgiar.org; Website: http://www.openaguniversity.cgiar.org