Seed Info 30, January 2006

S E E D I N F O

Official Newsletter of the WANA Seed Network

No. 30, January 2006

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News and Views____________________________________________________________

News, views, comments and suggestions on varieties and seeds are included in this section. It is also a forum for discussion among professionals in the seed sector.

International Plant Genetic Resources Treaty - in the Interest of Seed Industry
The availability of new and better varieties is a key for successful development of the seed industry. Modern plant breeding also depends on the availability of genetic resources to develop new varieties that meet farmer preferences and consumer demands. The CWANA region is rich in genetic resources of important agricultural and horticultural crops such as wheat, barley, sorghum, chickpea, lentil, coffee, apple and many more crops of economic importance. However, it is estimated that the countries in the CWANA region are also dependent for 60% of their genetic resources from elsewhere outside the region. In the past, genetic resources used to be shared or exchanged freely among farmers and countries. This free exchange of germplasm, however, changed drastically after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, chiefly represented by the Environment Ministries of almost all countries of the world.

The agreement on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted at this conference provided states with sovereign rights over their genetic resources including agricultural crops. Therefore, all countries were required to design laws to regulate the international exchange of genetic resources and seek from those who want to utilize the materials for crop improvement to share the benefits that may arise from their exploitation. Consequently, the CBD resulted in sharp decline of the exchange of genetic resources worldwide. It is, however, also difficult to predict the value of the genetic resources since conventional plant breeding may take over 10 years to yield a commercial product, and to design an effective mechanism to track individual lines obtained from the original germplasm.

The materials held at the genebanks of the International Agricultural Research Centers, however, remained available under a standard contract that requires among other things that the recipient can't claim legal ownership (patents or breeder's rights) over the materials in the form that they were received, and that information on the performance of the materials would be made available to the Centers. These international genebanks experienced decline in the flow of germplasm materials as a result of the CBD and found it increasingly difficult to fill the gaps in their germplasm collections. For example, materials from collection missions in the Andes remained unused for several years because the regulations for exchange, and on who had the authority to release the samples, were not yet clear. The national agricultural research programs are also facing difficulties in getting germplasm from other countries, especially from outside their region. For example, the law in the Philippines requires that many different people have to grant permission - a 'Prior Informed Consent' - on the use of genetic resources collected from farmers' fields, thus giving almost a veto power to the farmer, the land owner, the local government and the national government.

In 2004, another important new treaty came into force, which creates among other things a facilitated access to genetic resources for many important food crops under what is called the 'Multilateral System'. This International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (IT PGRFA), negotiated at FAO, will use one standard material transfer agreement (SMTA) for accessing genetic resources, and one multilateral mechanism for benefit sharing, if commercialized. Accordingly, those who commercialize materials while restricting access by others (e.g., through contracts, patents, plant variety protection, or V-GURTS -'terminator technology') will have to pay some share of the profit into the multilateral mechanism. In CWANA, except those in Central Asia, almost all countries of the region have formally approved the PGRFA. Iran, Morocco and Turkey have signed the treaty pending ratification. Although legally operational, many rules for implementing the PGRFA are still under negotiation including the details of SMTA, the funding strategy and a number of legal issues like the 'compliance'.

The seed industry is following the development of these treaties with great interest. For some time seed companies were not sure whether this would entail an additional cost or a benefit to their operations. They now recognize that the CBD creates more hurdles and costs for negotiating access to genetic resources. Therefore, they tend to favor the IT PGRFA, which promises a transparent multilateral access and benefit sharing regime. There is fear that the benefit sharing requirements will be costly for conventional breeders; and it is expected that the Treaty will run to a large extent on voluntary contributions by member states. There is still an argument that as long as the breeder's exemption in UPOV type laws is not curtailed (currently under debate in some seed associations) and allow the use of commercial varieties for further breeding, it may not be necessary for mandatory payments to the multilateral system. Those seed companies with a clear strategy for the future are, however, likely to contribute voluntarily because they know that their own future depends on an effective conservation of genetic resources and efficient implementation of the Treaty.

Whether the IT PGRFA becomes effective in supporting conservation and sustainable use (including breeding and seed provision), will depend on the outcome of the first meeting of the Governing Body (the Governments of countries that have ratified the Treaty) in June 2006 in Madrid, Spain. A successful meeting will pave the way for facilitated access to genetic resources whereas a failure will lead to continued uncertainty for many years to come. However, the outcome depends on the effective participation of the national delegations, and on the advice that they get from stakeholders at the national level, including seed specialists in the public and private sectors and in civil society. N.P. Louwaars, Center for Genetic Resources, Wageningen University and Research Center, P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; E-mail: niels.louwaars@wur.nl

The Global Crop Diversity Trust
The importance of crop diversity is reinforced in a number of international agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of PGRFA (1996) and the International Treaty on PGRFA (2001), but there was no mechanism to guarantee secure and sustainable funding for collections of crop diversity to support these instruments.

In October 2004, the Global Crop Diversity Trust became an independent legal entity after all the governments of the FAO member states agreed to its establishment. Its mission is to ensure the long-term conservation of crop diversity for food security worldwide.

At present there are about 1460 genebanks around the world holding an estimated 6 million accessions. Experts estimate that a USD 260 million endowment would be necessary to yield the USD 12-13 million the Trust would need to fund the critical costs of conservation in key national and international collections of crop diversity in genebanks every year.

In addition, the Trust aims to upgrade collections so that they meet the criteria eligible for long-term funding from the endowment and find adequate resources to finance its own operations.

In order to meet these goals, the Trust seeks funds from a broad range of donors. Current donors include developed and developing country governments, foundations, private companies, one farmers' organization and private individuals. In 2004, donors from all these sectors pledged funds that would bring the total to over USD 56 million.

To date donors include Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and United states; foundations such as Rockefeller Foundation, Syngenta Foundation, United Nations Foundation and Gatsby Charitable Foundation; and companies like Du Pont/Pioneer Hi-Bred, Grains Research and Development Corporation and Syngenta. For more information about the conservation strategies and grants awarded, visit the website at http://www.startwithaseed.org. Source: ISF Info, VOl XII, No 4, October 2005.

ISTA Accreditation of Laboratories on the Detection of Specified Traits in Seed Lots
In the last Ordinary Meeting of the Association (April 2005, Bangkok, Thailand), voting delegates representing 34 national governments supported the inclusion of Rules for the testing of specified traits (including the detection, identification and quantification of genetically modified seed) into Chapter 8 of the ISTA International Rules for Seed Testing.

There will be no standard method described in the ISTA rules, but testing for specified traits (detection, identification and quantification of genetically modified seed) will be made under a performance based approach. Under this approach, the laboratory can freely choose a method, but it has to fulfill three conditions before accreditation:

1-	Provide performance data on successful implementation of the method in the laboratory as prescribed in the relevant ISTA documents, with special focus on the parameter's accuracy and repeatability
2-	Successfully participate in the ISTA Proficiency Test
3-	Successfully participate in the ISTA Audit Program

The decision not to include a standard method in the International Rules for Seed Testing is new for ISTA. A number of intensive discussions took place with international and regional partners, International Seed Federation, International Society of Seed Technologists and Association of Official Seed Analysts, to decide the right approach to move forward.

At the end, it was decided that the methods for performing bio-molecular tests and bioassays require highly sophisticated equipment, skilled operators and specialized laboratory equipment. Furthermore, the methods are under rapid development and improvement andmay require specific laboratory optimizing and updating. Therefore, ISTA is convinced that over a period of three to five years, a performance-based approach is acceptable to achieve reliable and reproducible results in testing specified traits than working to establish standard methods.

With Governments' vote to include the performance-based approach in the ISTA Rules, ISTA will start the accreditation of laboratories on the detection of specified traits in seed lots in February 2006. The aim will be to provide reliable and reproducible testing results on international level through the ISTA accredited laboratories.

This is a tremendous step forward and will create the necessary confidence in testing results for the Governments to fulfill their monitoring tasks and for the seed trade to market their seed internationally without greater financial risks.

The relevant ISTA accreditation documents can be downloaded free from the ISTA website http://www.seedtest.org/en/content---1--1184.html which include:

1-	Principles and conditions for laboratory accreditation under the performance-based approach
2-	Performance data evaluation for the presence of seed with specified trait(s) in seed lots
3-	The ISTA accreditation standard

For more information you may contact, ISTA, Zürichstrasse 50, P.O. Box 308, 8303 Bassersdorf, Switzerland; Fax: ++41-1-8386001; E-mail: ista.office@ista.ch; Website: http://www.seedtest.org. Source: ISTA Press Release 05, 19 August 2005.

Albania and European Union accede to UPOV Convention
Albania (from 15 October 2005) and the European Union (from 29 July 2005) became full members of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) by depositing the instruments of accession at the General Secretariat of the UPOV in Geneva, Switzerland, bringing the total number of UPOV members to 60. The EU is the first intergovernmental organization joining UPOV. Accession to the UPOV Convention will allow Albania and the EU to fully benefit from the rights conferred by the Convention, and to be recognized as a full member of this international group with clear cut obligations and rules when it comes to plant variety rights. The UPOV Convention aims to ensure a harmonized international system for the protection of plant varieties and encourage the development of new varieties of plants. It was adopted in 1961, and has been revised three times, the most recent being in 1991. As a consequence of EU membership, all plant breeders of the European Community will enjoy the same rights as other UPOV members when it comes to the protection of plant varieties. The EU also has its own Regulation on Community Plant Variety Rights, based on UPOV recommendations, which allows breeders with a distinctive plant variety that fulfils certain criteria to be granted intellectual property rights at EU level. For more information on EU protection of plant variety rights, visit the website at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/plant/propertyrights/index_en.htm. Source:http://www.upov.int/

Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2005
The year 2005 marked the tenth anniversary of the commercialization of GM crops. ISAAA Brief 34 presented the global status of commercialized genetically modified (GM) crops or often called biotech crops in 2005. The objective is to present a consolidated set of data that will facilitate a knowledge-based discussion on current global trends in biotech crops both in developed and developing countries.

In 2005, the global biotech crops area continued to grow reaching 400 million ha (over 1 billion acre), planted by 8.5 million farmers in 21 countries since it started 10 years ago. This reflects an unprecedented high adoption rate and the trust and confidence of farmers in crop biotechnology. Farmers have consistently increased planting biotech crops by double-digit growth rates every year since they were first commercialized in 1996 indicating an increase of more than fifty-fold during the first decade of commercialization. The global area of approved biotech crops in 2005 was 90 million ha compared to 81 million ha in 2004 showing an increase of 9 million ha, equivalent to 11% annual growth rate.

A historic milestone was reached in 2005 when 21 countries grew biotech crops from 17 countries in 2004. Notably, the four new countries that grew biotech crops were Iran, Portugal, France and the Czech Republic. This brings the number of EU member countries now commercializing modest areas of Bt maize to five, viz; Czech Republic, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain. In 2005, the 21 countries growing biotech crops included 11 developing countries and 10 industrialized countries; they were, in order of hectarage: USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Paraguay, India, South Africa, Uruguay, Australia, Mexico, Romania, the Philippines, Spain, Colombia, Iran, Honduras, Portugal, Germany, France and Czech Republic.

In 2005, biotech rice (Bt) was grown commercially for the first time on approximately 4,000ha in Iran by hundred farmers. Iran and China are the most advanced countries in commercialization of biotech rice, which is the most important food crop in the world, grown by 250 million farmers, and the principal food of the world's 1.3 billion people, mostly subsistence farmers. The commercialization of biotech rice has enormous implications for the alleviation of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, not only for the rice growing and consuming countries in Asia, but for all biotech crops and their global acceptance. China has already field tested biotech rice in pre-production trials and is expected to approve biotech rice in the short-term.

In 2005, the US, followed by Argentina, Brazil, Canada and China continued to be the principal adopters of biotech crops globally, with 49.8 million ha planted in the US (55% of global biotech area) of which approximately 20% were stacked products containing two or three genes, with the first triple gene product making its introduction in maize in the US. The stacked products, currently deployed in the US, Canada, Australia, Mexico, and South Africa and approved in the Philippines, are an important and growing trend which is more appropriate to quantify as 'trait hectares' rather than hectares of adopted biotech crops. The number of 'trait hectares' in US in 2005 was 59.4 million ha compared with 49.8 million ha of biotech crops, a 19% variance, and globally 100 million "trait hectares" versus 90 million ha, a 10% variance.

The largest increase in 2005 was in Brazil (9.4 million ha compared with 5 million in 2004), followed by the US (2.2 million ha), Argentina (0.9 million ha) and India (0.8 million ha). India had by far the largest year-on-year proportional increase, with almost a three-fold increase from 500,000 ha in 2004 to 1.3 million ha in 2005.

Biotech soybean continued to be the principal crop in 2005, occupying 54.4 million ha (60% of global biotech area), followed by maize (21.2 million ha at 24%), cotton (9.8 million ha at 11%) and canola (4.6 million ha at 5%). In 2005, herbicide tolerance, deployed in soybean, maize, canola and cotton continued to be the most dominant trait occupying 63.7 million ha (71%) followed by Bt insect resistance at 6.2 million ha (18%) and 10.1 million ha (11%) to the stacked genes. The latter was the fastest growing trait group between 2004 and 2005 at 49% growth, compared with 9% for herbicide tolerance and 4% for insect resistance.

Biotech crops were grown by approximately 8.5 million farmers in 21 countries in 2005, up from 8.25 million farmers in 17 countries in 2004. Notably, 90% of the beneficiary farmers were resource-poor farmers from developing countries, whose increased incomes from biotech crops contributed to the alleviation of poverty. In 2005, approximately 7.7 million subsistence farmers (up from 7.5 million in 2004) benefited from biotech crops - the majority in China with 6.4 million, 1 million in India, thousands in South Africa including many women Bt cotton farmers, more than 50,000 in the Philippines, with the balance in the seven developing countries which grew biotech crops in 2005. This initial modest contribution of biotech crops to the Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty by 50% by 2015 is an important development which has enormous potential in the second decade of commercialization from 2006 to 2015.

During 1996-2005, the proportion of the global area of biotech crops grown by developing countries increased every year. More than one-third of the global biotech crop area in 2005, equivalent to 33.9 million hectares, was grown in developing countries where growth between 2004 and 2005 was substantially higher (6.3 million ha or 23% growth) than industrial countries (2.7 million ha or 5% growth). The increasing collective impact of the five principal developing countries (China, India, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa) is an important continuing trend with implications for the future adoption and acceptance of biotech crops worldwide.

In the first decade, the accumulated global biotech crop area was 475 million hectares (1.17 billion acres), equivalent to almost half of the total land area of the USA or China, or 20 times the total land area of the UK. The continuing rapid adoption of biotech crops reflects the substantial and consistent improvements in productivity, the environment, economics, and social benefits realized by both large and small farmers, consumers and society in both industrialized and developing countries.

There is cautious optimism that the stellar growth in biotech crops, witnessed in the first decade of commercialization, 1996 to 2005, will continue and probably be surpassed in the second decade 2006-2015. Adherence to good farming practices with biotech crops will remain critical as it has been during the first decade and continued responsible stewardship must be practiced, particularly by the countries of the South, which will be the major deployers of biotech crops in the coming decade. Source: CropBiotech Update Special Edition, 11 January 2006 (Highlights of ISAAA Briefs No. 34-2005; Website: http://www.isaaa.org).