DUBAI, 5 August 2008 (IRIN) - A new association set up by the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) countries http://www.ecosecretariat.org/ in the Turkish capital, Ankara, aims to provide high quality seeds to millions of farmers in Central Asia and the Caucasus.

It brings together private and public sector producers in 10 ECO countries - Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

ECO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) worked closely with member countries prior to the formation of the association on 18 July.

"The main purpose of establishing this association is to create a forum for public-private sector partnership in the seed trade among ECO member countries. The association will represent the interests of the seed industry; facilitate dialogue with government; and put in place a facilitative policy and regulatory framework for the development of a competitive seed sector," Zewdie Bishaw, head of ICARDA's Seed Unit, told IRIN.

In the ECO region (representing Central and West Asia) there were a limited number of national seed trade associations and no regional umbrella organisation. The latter would promote cooperation between seed companies from the different countries, he said.

The ECO region, with over 350 million people and only half of its cultivable land currently farmed, had great potential, and could help take the pressure off soaring world food prices, FAO said in a statement on 30 July.

Food security

Michael A. Larinde, agricultural officer with FAO's Seed and Plant Genetic Resources Service (AGPS), told IRIN the association could increase food security by improving farmers' access to good quality seeds, and creating "a forum for seed producers and buyers to do seed business, including cooperating on production and sale of seed types/products and negotiating terms of trade amongst themselves."

Seed associations cover all the world's major regions and collaborate with the International Seed Federation, which represents the global seed industry. Their purpose is to help make suitable seeds and plant genetic resources available to the greatest possible number of farmers, FAO said.

The ECO member countries would benefit from the new body "through the facilitation of access to seed production technology from more advanced countries; access to, and collective benefit sharing of, the germplasm materials in the genetic resource-rich region; and creation of chain rural employment for seed growers and rural people through seed production activities", Larinde said.

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