Agriculture & Food Security » Seed Security and Trade

The 1st D-8 Agricultural Ministerial Meeting on Food Security held on 25-27 February 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, identified Seed Bank as one of areas under agricultural cooperation. The Meeting also agreed to establish Working Group on Seed Bank with the aim of achievement of the creation of seed banks to supply quality seeds. The Meeting underlined that seed banks are important for maintaining the diversity of plant genetic resources. Land degradation, urban expansion, climate change and deforestation have resulted in the loss of fertile agricultural land and plant diversity thus increasing the risk of extinction for many plant species. Loss of wild crop relatives threatens food production because they contain genes for traits such as pest resistance and drought tolerance, which plant breeders can use to improve the performance of cultivated varieties. Among D-8 countries the diversity of plant genetic resources is immense. A coordinated and joint approach in creating seed banks in D-8 countries will bring many benefits to all countries and ensure useful plant resources can be shared for R&D so that quality seeds can be produced. The Meeting adopted key strategic initiatives of the Group as follows:
  • Establish modalities for downstream seed production through the establishment of National Seed Banks and a D-8 Umbrella Seed Bank
  • Create collaborative research and development programmes between private and public sector organisations
  • Standardise and harmonise seed certification and quality enforcement procedures among D-8 countries

Subsequent to the KL Initiative, in the Seed Bank sub-sector, several meetings have been held by D-8 Organization as follows:

1) 1st Working Commitee Meeting on the Establishment of D-8 Seed Bank, 21-24 July 2009, Izmir, Turkey.

D-8 Ministers of Agriculture Meeting on Food Security in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 25th -27th February 2009 has agreed to establish D-8 Seed Bank. It is also agreed that the activities for the establishment of D-8 Seed Bank would be leaded by Turkey in collaboration to Iran.

In Kuala Lumpur Meeting, to have a workshop for the establishment of modalities of a downstream tri-lateral seed bank was included as strategic initiatives.

The Kuala Lumpur Meeting agreed on the following under the Priority Area 3 with the heading “The creation of seed banks to supply high quality seeds”:

  • Establish modalities for downstream seed production through the establishment of National Seed Banks and a D-8 Umbrella SeedBank.
  • Create collaborative research and development programs between private and public sector organizations.
  • Standardize and harmonize seed certification and quality enforcement procedures among D-8 countries.

2)2nd D-8 Working Group on the Establishment of D-8 Seed Bank, 16 May 2011, Tehran – Iran.

Some key highlights of this meeting are:

  • Turkey and Iran will prepare the draft of Project Topics and Outline on Seed Bank cooperation and circulate it through D-8 Secretariat to Member Countries.
  • The proposal for establishing regional seed bank prepared by Iranian delegation has been submitted to member delegations for their consideration/evaluation and they will express their viewpoints on it utmost at end of September 2011.
  • Turkey agreed to host the next meeting.
  • The delegates agreed to inform D-8 Secretariat about their country contact points.

3) 5th Agriculture Ministerial Meeting on Food Security held on 01-03 December 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey

6th Working Group on Seed Bank discussed and agreed on the followings:

  • To establish D-8 Seed Bank: a seed bank project has already been prepared and proposed to D-8 Secretariat with an aim of providing funds.
  • Further studies and workshops on seed and plant material registration and certification program needed including funds for the projects.

4th Working Group Meeting on D-8 Seed Bank which was held on 3 October 2012 in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara-Indonesia Member Countries agreed to the following events to be implemented before the next ministerial meeting. The detail will be discussed in the next working group meeting.

A. Exchange of Expert:

  1. Workshop on harmonization for the D-8 seed certification system
  2. Workshop on harmonization of the D-8 variety registration
  3. Workshop on ISTA rules, sanitary and phytosanitary

B. Genetic material and seed exchange:

  1. Harmonization of the evaluation method for breeding
  2. Construct Standard Rules for D-8 material transfer agreement (D-8 MTA).
  3. According to the result of constructation, germplasm exchange for research and would be according to D-8 MTA
  4. Seed exchange of released varieties for adaptation trial according to consultation among D-8 member countries.

C. Establishment of the D-8 Seed Council

 Egypt
Prof. Dr. Abdelwakil Mohammed Aboutaleb
Name: Prof. Dr. Abdelwakil Mohammed Aboutaleb
Email: abd-abo@hotmail.com
Mobile: +201001477569
Address: Ministry for Agriculture and Land Reclamation
Country: Egypt
Mustapha A. Abubakar
Name: Mustapha A. Abubakar
Designation: Chief Administrative Officer
Email: sardaunahabu@gmail.com
Mobile: +2348037043764
Address: Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Country: Nigeria
Ayfer ŞAHİN
Name: Ayfer ŞAHİN
Designation: head of department
Email: ayfer.sahin@tarimorman.gov.tr
Mobile: 05075800355
Telephone: 03123076066
Address: Ayfer
Country: Turkey
Ayfer ŞAHİN
Name: Ayfer ŞAHİN
Designation: head of department
Email: suveyla.yilmaz@tarimorman.gov.tr
Mobile: +905075800355
Telephone: 03123076066
Address: Üniversiteler Mah. Dumlupınar Bulvarı, Eskişehir Yolu 10. Km, Çankaya/ANKARA 06800 TÜRKİYE
Country: Turkey
Dr. Murat Toy
Name: Dr. Murat Toy
Designation: Agricultural Engineer
Email: murat.toy@tarimorman.gov.tr
Mobile: +90 544 649 06 44
Telephone: +90 312 607 62 57
Address: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, General Directorate for Agricultural Research and Policies
Country: Turkey
Betül Altun
Name: Betül Altun
Designation: Food Engineer
Email: betul.altunulvan@tarimorman.gov.tr
Mobile: +90 545 247 14 17
Telephone: +90 312 607 62 14
Address: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, General Directorate for Agricultural Research and Policies
Country: Turkey