The International Movement of Seed

Radha Ranganathan

KWS UK-LT/HO

The International Seed Federation 228 Members in 78 countries

ISF Members together account for 96% of international seed trade

ISF’s Mission Seed is Life!

Facilitate the international movement of seed, related know-how and technology

» to deliver sufficiently healthy seed to farmers and seed producers, and

» to respect international and national phytosanitary regulations

Mobilize and represent the seed industry at a global level

Inform its members of developments within the industry and in the international regulatory environment

Promote, on behalf of its members, the interests and image of the seed industry

KWS UK-LT/HO

The seed business today Product development and seed production in multiple countries

R&D Centre

Seed production site

Distribution/Processing

The movement of seed

Germplasm for R&D purposes

Experimental lines and hybrids for screening purposes

Basic seed for multiplication purposes, and

Commercial varieties and hybrids for marketing purposes

The Value of Traded Seed Exports of Some Selected Countries, 2012 (US$ million)

Africa Latin America Asia Europe North America

Algeria – 10 Argentina – 150 China – 251 France – 1804 Canada – 323

Kenya – 9 Bolivia – 42 India – 67 Germany – 727 USA – 1531

Morocco – 3 Brazil – 165 Japan – 145 Hungary – 385

S Africa – 78 Chile – 388 Israel – 126 Italy – 315

Tanzania – 9 Mexico – 203 New Zealand – 111 Netherlands – 1583

Angola – 8 Peru – 46 Thailand – 80 Denmark – 265

Egypt – 3 Guatemala – 32 Australia – 108 Romania – 218

Total: USD 10,543 million Source: ISF

The Value of Traded Seed Imports of Some Selected Countries, 2012 (US$ million)

Source: ISF Total: USD 9,749 million

Africa Latin America Asia Europe North America

Egypt – 53 Argentina – 95 China – 268 France – 687 Canada – 223

Kenya – 25 Venezuela – 42 India – 84 Germany – 700 USA – 1312

Morocco – 93 Brazil – 120 Japan – 231 Italy – 422

S Africa – 101 Chile – 44 Turkey – 188 Russian Federation – 373

Tunisia – 12 Mexico – 355 S Korea – 111 Netherlands – 685

Algeria – 26 Paraguay – 57 Australia – 113 Spain – 374

Zambia – 18 Colombia – 35 Israel – 49 UK – 287

Brazil’s vegetable seed imports (in USD million FOB)

Country 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

China 1.3 2.6 2.1 4.2 9.2

United States 6.1 7.8 6.8 8.9 8.8

Chile 1.6 4.2 4.7 6.8 5.5

France 5.1 5.9 7.7 9.3 5.4

Japan 2.9 2.2 3.0 2.5 3.8

Netherlands 3.7 5.3 6.6 5.8 3.2

Italy 0.5 0.8 1.1 0.7 1.0

All country TOTAL 26.9 36.3 41.1 51.9 57.0

Source: ALADI

Brazil’s domestic market for vegetable seed (2010)

Source: ABCSEM

Crop Volume of seed (t)

Value (million R$)

Area under crop (ha)

tomato 7 127 77,895

onion 122 47 46,559

carrot 84 36 25,074

lettuce 166 33 83,174

watermelon 60 29 115,310

melon 9 25 13,174

rocket 35 3 23,441

parsley 33 2 8,314

All crop TOTAL 2,234 443 758,484

Agriculture and the vegetable sector in Brazil, 2010

Brazilian agribusiness accounted for 25% of GNP, 37% of the jobs in the country and 36% of its exports

700,000 hectares under vegetable production, which generated more than 2 million direct jobs in the field

Value of vegetable production R$ 10.6 billion (approx. USD 6 billion) to growers

R$ 19.0 billion (USD 10.5 billion) to wholesalers, and

R$ 40.6 billion (USD 22.5 billion) to retailers

Value of the vegetable seed market R$ 443 million (USD 246 million)

High economic added value from vegetable seed

Source: ABCSEM

Draft May 2012:

The host-pest association a significant step forward from the simple crop-country of origin combinations in NI 36/2010

Only 57 host-pest combinations (from a total of 215 combinations of 69 hosts and 57 pests) of quarantine significance, i.e.

Pest not present in Brazil

Crop is a host for the associated pest

Seed is a pathway for the pest concerned

Brazil’s NI 36/2010 and revisions

Draft September 2013:

Major shift back to (47) country specific host-pest combinations requiring specific ADs

Seed not a pathway or not proven to be a pathway for many pests associated with the crop species, e.g.

Ditylenchus destructor, Pectobacterium rhapontici, Pleospora herbarum, Stegobium paniceum, Tomato black ring virus in Allium cepa

Botryotinia porri, Pleospora herbarum, Urocystis cepulae in Allium porri

Pectobacterium rhapontici, Pleospora herbarum, Urocystis cepulae in Allium sativum

…

Brazil’s NI 36/2010 and revisions

Seed-borne pest: pest that can be found on the seed (externally) or within the seed (internally) but is not necessarily transferred to the resulting plant

Seed-transmitted pest: pest that can be transferred via seed to progeny plants resulting in infection or infestation

» All seed-transmitted pests are seed-borne

» Seed-borne pests may be introduced

» Not all seed-borne pests necessarily lead to establishment

» Some seed-borne pests that do not transmit a disease

may, nevertheless, establish (e.g. contaminating pest)

When is seed a phytosanitary risk?

Pest Risk Analysis

ISF Pest Lists

Is seed a pathway?

1. ‘Yes’

2. ‘No’

3. ‘Pathway not proven’ – if the evidence is doubtful or if there is conflicting evidence

» Reference(s) that back the assessment of whether seed is / isn’t a pathway

» The full reference of the cited article(s) (Author(s), year, title, journal and journal number)

» Any information or qualifying statement that is relevant to the pest

» Expert opinion of the seed and/or field pathologist

a. Dry seed inspection methods (e.g. Sclerotinia)

b. Incubation methods (blotter or agar media)

c. Greenhouse or growth chamber grow out assay (e.g. BFB)

d. Seed wash assays - semi-selective agar plating or host plant inoculation (most seed-borne bacterial assays)

e. Serological techniques (e.g. immuno-strips, ELISA)

f. Nucleic acid based techniques (PCR)

Pest Risk Management: Detection Methods

1. Physical treatment (hot water, hot air, steam, plasma etc.)

2. Chemical treatment/disinfection

a. Seed coating (crop protection agent, fungicide/insecticide)

b. Seed disinfection (acid, chlorine, peroxide, gas treatment)

3. Bio-pesticide treatment

a. Seed coating (microbial or biochemical coating)

b. Seed treatment (microbial or biochemical treatment)

Pest Risk Management: Seed Treatments

The Pepper Pest List

Number of pest entries: 106

» Species not a host: 34

» “No” – seed is not a pathway: 46

» For cases where the pathway is not proven: 17

» “Yes” – seed is a pathway: 9

Number of supporting references: 206

http://www.worldseed.org/isf/pest_lists.html

It is in the interest of the seed industry to find mechanisms that ensure the safe movement of seed in international trade in order to protect

agriculture, human health and the environment

Imported vegetable seed lots not cleared due to the presence of quarantine pests, 2011

Company Imported seed lots

Not cleared Company Imported seed lots

Not cleared

1 124 5 10 504 8

2 805 - 11 311 -

3 165 - 12 240 -

4 136 3 13 2 -

5 61 - 14 7 -

6 54 - 15 321 6

7 573 - 16 156 -

8 135 - 17 115 -

9 155 2 TOTAL 3864 24

Source: Brazilian vegetable seed companies