1. Regional Cooperation In Seed Sector in South Asia
Seeds without Border:
Regional Cooperation In Seed Sector in South Asia
Uma S. Singh & Abdelbagi Ismail
IRRI

2. Seed Most critical input in agriculture
Quality seed may result in 10 to 30 percent increase in productivity
A vibrant and forward looking seed system is must for enhancing & stabilizing productivity
Seed production, quality evaluation, certification & dissemination
Varietal targeting, tracking and impact assessment

3. Seed System Varietal Development : 6 to 8 years
for MAS generated varieties : 2 years
Varietal evaluation and release: 5 to 6 years
Time taken by a variety after release to reach farmers’ field : 2 to 3 years
Breeder seed (BS) Foundation seed (FS) Certified seed (CS)/ Truthful-labelled seed (TLS)
Formal and informal seed system
Public and private sector

4. FEW FACTS
There are varieties which are popular across several countries. A number of Indian rice varieties are being unofficially cultivated in Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and in few African countries
Many countries share similar agro-ecological conditions
There are varieties officially released from several countries.

5. Sub1 varieties released in Asia
Breeding line
Year
Designation
Country
IR05F102 (Swarna)
2009
Swarna-Sub1
India
INPARA-5
Indonesia
2010
BRRI dhan-51
Bangladesh
2011
Nepal
Yemyoke Khan
Myanmar
IR07F102 (IR64)
NSIC Rc194
Philippines
INPARA-4
2017?
IR64-Sub1
IR09F436 (Ciherang)
2014
Binadhan 11
2015
Ciherang-Sub1
IR07F101 (S. Mahsuri)
Binadhan 12

6. Why regional cooperation in seed sector?
To speed up the process of varietal release, awareness creation, seed multiplication and varietal out scaling for the benefit of farmers without sacrificing quality
More efficient use of resources
To encourage formal seed system
To promote SRR and varietal turn over
To encourage seed exchange/business

7. Regional Workshop for Cooperation on Seed Issues
Dhaka Agreement
17 February 2013

8. India and Bangladesh: the key players
17 April 2002
Policies, Politics, Persistence and Pragmatism:Part 1
16-17 Feb 2013

9. Joint varietal evaluation and release
Bangladesh-India-IRRI collaboration : Areas identified (Protocol signed on 17 February 2013)
Joint varietal evaluation and release
Reciprocal recognition of evaluation data for varietal release
Reducing time for the evaluation of varieties released in neighbouring countries for similar agro-ecologies
Reducing time for evaluation for MAS generated varieties
Pre-release seed multiplication & promotion
Encouraging private sector by providing level playing field.
Harmonization of seed system
Germplasm exchange

10. Regional Workshop for Cooperation on Seed Issues Kathmandu Agreement (18 October 2014)

11. 18 October 2014

12. Kathmandu Agreement
(protocol signed on 18 October 2014)
* Protocol signed by Bangladesh, India and IRRI extended to Nepal
* Three countries agreed to share the evaluation data and varieties released in their respective countries for release and commercialization in the other two countries for similar agroecologies

13. Implementation of the two agreements
India directly notified 4 varieties released in Bangladesh and 2 from Nepal for cultivation in India
Nepal relased 2 rice vareites from India for cultivation in Nepal

14. Siem Reap Agreement (9-10 June 2017)

15. Siem Reap Protocol
10 June 2017
L to R : Additional Secretary Agriculture, Bangladesh; Secretary Agriculture, Cambodia; Secretary Agriculture, India; Director General, IRRI; Secretary Agriculture, Nepal and Secretary Agriculture, Sri Lanka

16. Siem Reap Agreement
Signed by Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, IRRI, Nepal and Sri Lanka
Recognition of each others seed certification system
Extending agreement to other crops like other cereals, pulses, oil seeds, vegetables, sugarcane and fiber crops.
Myanmar joined agreement in October 2017

17. Way ahead Nigeria may think of joining this agreement
Promotion of similar regional agreement among African countries

18. THANK YOU