On 4-5 November, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized The Global Conference on Green Development of Seed Industries. The online forum brought together private and public sector opinion leaders and industry stakeholders to discuss “how to make quality seeds of preferred productive, nutritious and resilient crop varieties available to farmers.”
The conference’s first plenary session commenced with welcome remarks from Xia Jingyuan Xia (Director, FAO Plant Production and Protection Division) and Opening Remarks from Qu Dongyu (FAO Director-General).
ISF, November 2021)
The conference proceeded with sessions facilitating discussions under four main themes: 1. Advanced technologies; 2. Conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; 3. Crop varietal development and adoption and 4. Seed Systems, each with two parallel running sessions as follows:
● Session 1.1 Modern plant breeding technologies
● Session 1.2 Emerging biotechnologies and informatics technologies
● Session 2.1 The global conservation system
● Session 2.2 Access and benefit-sharing
● Session 3.1 Accelerating genetic gains in crops
● Session 3.2 Facilitated adoption of improved varieties by small-scale farmers
● Session 4.1 System innovations in the seed value chain
● Session 4.2: Seed enterprise development and international trade
Assuring Sustainable Seed Systems
The sessions facilitated comprehensive dialogue and discussions on all relevant aspects of transforming seed systems, wrapping up with a final session that brought everything into perspective, honing in on the most active players in seed systems — farmers, seed producers and traders.
Co-Chaired by Dr. Keshavulu Kunusoth (Director, Telangana State Seed & Organic Certification Authority, India and Vice President, International Seed Testing Association) and Shaun Ferris (Senior Technical Advisor, Agriculture/Livelihoods and Markets, Catholic Relief Services) , the session featured presentations with strong emphasis on and representation from Africa and Asia, which looked into the roles of government and the private sector in seed business development, markets, and regional harmonization efforts in seed certification and phytosanitary measures.
FAO’s website
Source: APSA
