1 / 18

SEED STATUS REPORT OF SWAZILAND

SEED STATUS REPORT OF SWAZILAND. BY MTHETHWA C.M. (Act. Head, SQCS). OVERVIEW OF THE SEED LAW (1/2). The Seeds and Plant Varieties Act, 2000 came into force after going through parliament and then signed by the King on the 17 th October 2000.

yoshe
Download Presentation

SEED STATUS REPORT OF SWAZILAND

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. SEED STATUS REPORT OF SWAZILAND BY MTHETHWA C.M. (Act. Head, SQCS)

  2. OVERVIEW OF THE SEED LAW (1/2) • The Seeds and Plant Varieties Act, 2000 came into force after going through parliament and then signed by the King on the 17th October 2000. • It provides for the control, sale, importation and exportation of seeds and matters incidental thereto. • It consists of the following: • (a) Preliminary – interpretation, application of Act and appointment of Registrar of Seeds; • (b) Registration of seed cleaners, sellers, importers and exporters; • (c) Provisions for the recognition of certain varieties of plants;

  3. OVERVIEW OF THE SEED LAW (2/2) • (d) Certification schemes; • (e) Establishment of an official seed testing station; • (f) Requirements relating to seeds, packaging material, seeds and labels; • (g) Importation and exportation of seed; and • (h) Other sections e.g. inspection and proof of documents, secrecy, appeals, offences and penalties.

  4. PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS LEGISLATION (1/1) • Currently, there is no plant breeders rights legislation in the country. • Work is currently in progress towards drafting the legislation.

  5. SEED REGISTRATION (1/2) • The Registrar of Seeds shall be responsible for all the registration of seed in the country: • (a) Register of establishments – names, postal address, physical location, kind of business. • (b) Application for registration – apply in writing using application forms and a prescribed fee. The Registrar shall issue a certificate of registration if he is satisfied. • (c)Terms of registration – valid for 12 months and shall be renewable • (d) Termination of registration – the Registrar may, at any time, terminate the registration of any establishment if it does not comply with any of the following:

  6. SEED REGISTRATION (2/2) • (i) The type of building (not suitable); • (ii) The necessary facilities (not available); and • (iii) Record keeping (not up to standard).

  7. CROP VARIETY TESTING (1/2) • The Minister of Agriculture may, by notice in the Gazette, prescribe a variety list in respect of such plants as he may determine. • Only varieties of plants that are listed in the variety list may be sold. • A variety may be recognised if: • (a) it is by reason of any important characteristic, clearly distinguishable from any other variety of the same kind of plant; • (b) it is sufficiently homogeneous; • (c) it is stable and remains true to description after repeated reproduction; • (d) it is identified by a denomination (be suitable to identify and not be liable to mislead or cause confusion); and • (e) it has sufficient merit in at least one agronomic character

  8. CROP VARIETY TESTING (2/2) • The minister shall appoint a committee whose chairman shall be the Registrar of Seeds to consider and examine applications for the recognition of varieties of plants. • The Minister may authorise the committee to use results of tests conducted outside the country if he is satisfied that they form a reliable basis. • There shall be a variety list which shall be kept by the Registrar of Seeds. • The list shall be published in the Gazette at least once a year and not later than the 1st July each year.

  9. SEED CERTIFICATION (1/4) • The Seed Quality Control Services (SQCS) is an official seed testing station and also the official certification authority. • The SQCS shall have official seed testers and inspectors whose appointment shall be notified by public gazette. • No seed shall be certified unless it has been produced, inspected, sampled, tested and comply with set standards. • Seed shall be certified into six classes: A = pre-basic seed; B = basic seed; C1 = certified seed, 1st generation; C2 = cert. seed, 2nd gen.; C3 = cert. seed, 3rd gen.; E = emergency class.

  10. SEED CERTIFICATION (2/4) • Only cultivars which have been approved by the Registrar shall be eligible for certification. • Field inspections for the purpose of certification shall be conducted by persons authorised by the SQCS to be seed inspectors. • A seed inspector may refuse to certify a crop if he is satisfied that: • (a) the crop is heavily contaminated with weeds, other species or diseases as to render the crop unfit for seed; • (b) the isolation distance or standards relating to offtypes and other cultivars have not been complied with;

  11. SEED CERTIFICATION (3/4) • (c) for hybrids of maize, sorghum and sunflower, there are more than one pollinating females per 100 plants; and • (d) the crop exceeds the approved and registered hectarage by more than 10%. • For the purpose of certification, an inspector shall conduct three field inspections per crop. • Additionally for hybrids, at least three inspections shall be conducted during pollination. • A report for every field inspection shall be made by the inspector and shall be countersigned by the registered grower or the growers’ representative. • It has been a very long time since hybrids were produced in the country. Seed companies now prefer importing them from other hybrids.

  12. SEED CERTIFICATION (4/4) • Only one open-pollinated variety (OPV) for maize is produced (ZM521) whose basic seed is obtained from CYMMIYT. • The country is also in possession of basic seed for two other OPVs (ZM309 and ZM611). • Group of farmers interested to produce the varieties are still being sought. • Legume seed production is conducted at five different areas under the emergency/quality declared seed class.

  13. QUARANTINE AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES (1/1) • Phytosanitary measures are governed by the Plant Control Act, 1981 (under review). • The quarantine and phytosanitary measures are not specifically for seed but for all plants and plant products. • The country has a national pest list and is reviewing its quarantine pest list. • The country has recently finished constructing the post-entry quarantine facility which consists of two laboratories and green houses at Malkerns Research Station. • Recruitment of staff is currently pursued.

  14. CHANGES NECESSARY IN THE LEGISLATION (1/2) • The Seeds and Plant Varieties Act, 2000 should include an article that talks about the establishment and maintenance of the SADC Variety Catalogue and the SADC Variety Database. • Seeds of varieties listed in the Catalogue can be sold in all SADC Member States without restrictions related to variety. • Before a variety can be entered in the Regional Catalogue it will need to be released in at least two SADC countries. • A member country can apply for permission to prohibit the use of a given variety in its territory if it is not suitable for its growing conditions.

  15. CHANGES NECESSARY IN THE LEGISLATION (2/2) • The minimum seed certification standards for the country should be in line with the minimum SADC Seed Certification Standards. • Example: minimum germination % for groundnut for the country is 80%, yet the SADC one is 75% for certified seed.

  16. CHALLENGES FACED IN IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTION CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT (1/2) • (a) Capability capacity: • - orientation of extension personnel, NGOs and farmers’ associations on different seed issues/topics. • - thorough training of new staff members to be recruited. • - training of existing staff members on seed inspection and seed health testing. • Training of extension personnel on the importance of the Seed Act.

  17. CHALLENGES FACED IN IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTION CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT(2/2) • - thorough training of farmers’ associations involved in seed production. • - fact sheets for extension personnel and NGOs. • (b) Resource capacity • - shortage of transport; • - maintenance of existing equipment; • - late acquisition of materials for day to day activities of the laboratories; • - computers used are now very old and unreliable.

  18. THANK YOU.

More Related