Presentation by Md Alam, Bangladesh on the SAARC Seed Bank at the at the CCAFS Workshop on Institutions and Policies to Scale out Climate Smart Agriculture held between 2-5 December 2013 in Colombo, Sri Lanka

1. Workshop
on
Institutions and Policies for Scaling Out
Climate Smart Agriculture
SAARC SEED BANK POLICY
Muhammad Nurul Alam
Senior Program Specialist, SAC
2-3 December 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC)
• Established in 1985 involving seven countries
1. Bangladesh,
5. Nepal,
2. Bhutan,
6. Pakistan and
3. India,
7. Sri Lanka
4. Maldives,
Later on in 2007
8. Afghanistan joined SAARC as a member

3. •Provides a platform for the peoples of the
member states to work together in a spirit of
friendship, trust and understanding.
•SAARC focuses on regional cooperation and
covers many areas for regional development
including agriculture.
•Agriculture is the main stay of the livelihood of
the peoples of the region.
•Contribution of Agriculture to GDP is around
20% and 50-60 % peoples are engaged in
agriculture directly or indirectly.

4. • Considering that the agriculture as the priority
sector that engaged majority of population
and supported their livelihood, SAARC
decided to open the first regional centre to
support agriculture development in 1988 as
SAARC Agriculture Information Centre (SAIC)

Renamed in 2007 as SAARC Agriculture Centre
(SAC) with broader mandate
 Regional cooperation in agriculture and Rural
development;
 Address the agriculture needs of the Region

5. Regional Centres of SAARC
1. SAARC Agricultural Centre (SAC), Dhaka
2. SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC), Dhaka
3. SAARC Tuberculosis Centre (STC), Kathmandu
4. SAARC Documentation Centre (SDC), New Delhi
5. SAARC Human Resources Dev.Centre (SHRDC), Islamabad
6. SAARC Coastal Zone Management Centre (SCZMC), Maldives
7. SAARC Information Centre (SIC), Nepal
8. SAARC Energy Centre (SEC), Pakistan
9. SAARC Disaster Management Centre (SDMC), India
10. SAARC Forestry Centre (SFC), Bhutan
11. SAARC Cultural Centre (SCC), Sri Lanka

6. • SAARC Seed Bank
•
• Recognizing the importance of regional and subregional collective self reliance in Agriculture with
attaining self security as a means of ensuring food
security, particularly addressing the adverse effect
of natural and manmade calamities the agreement
of establishing SAARC Seed Bank was signed by
the foreign ministers of the eight member states in
Addu, Maldives summit held on November, 2011.

7. The establishment of a Regional Seed Bank
inter alia may contribute to the objective of
harmonized seed testing and certification,
facilitate seed trade within the region by
Member States, and would thereby contribute to
attaining respective Food Security;

8. Objectives:
to provide regional support to national seed security
efforts; address regional seed shortages through
collective actions and foster inter-country partnerships.
to promote increase of Seed Replacement Rate (SRR)
with appropriate varieties at a faster rate as far as
possible so that the use of quality seed for crop
production can be ensured; and
to act as a regional seed security reserve for the
Member States

9. Common Varieties:
Member States will collaborate with
each other in the development of a
list of common variety (ies) of major
priority/identified crops while
recognizing the need to preserve
local/ indigenous varieties as may be
appropriate

10. Maintaining Seed Quality:
Member State will develop a Common
Minimum Seed Quality Standard
(CMQS) and Seed Testing Procedures
for different quality attributes e.g.
genetic purity, germination capacity,
physical purity, moisture content, seed
health keeping conformity of the
ISTA procedures

11. Seed Reserve:
•The seed reserve to be maintained shall
consist of quality seeds of rice, wheat, pulses
and oilseeds
•This reserve shall remain the property of the
Member State which has earmarked it and
shall be in addition to any national reserve
that may be maintained by that Member State
•Member States would maintain at least one
percent of seed stock of the common
varieties under the Seed Bank reserves.

12. Procedure for the release of the seed:
The Member State in need shall directly
notify, through its designated Nodal Point(s),
the other Member State(s) of the amount of
seed required.
The other Member State(s), on being so
requested, shall take immediate steps to
make necessary arrangements to ensure
immediate and speedy release of the
required quality seed, subject to availability

13. Institutional Arrangements:
- Seed Bank Board consisting of one member
from each Member State, one farmer
representative on rotational basis from a
Member State and two members from private
sector (SAARC Seed Forum)
Each Member State shall designate a Nodal
Point responsible for transacting all business
at the national-level related to operations of
the Seed Bank.

14. The Board shall undertake activities to
develop a list of common crop varieties,
quality testing method, Common Seed
Certification Standard and Procedures;
facilitate harmonization of legislative
measures; examine immediate short term
and long term policy action, as may be
considered necessary, to ensure
adequate supplies of quality seeds in the
region; review implementation process

15. Framework for Material Transfer:
To operationalize the SAARC Seed
Bank, the Framework for Material Transfer
shall be applicable with a view to facilitate
easy movement of seeds and plant materials
across the Member States.

16. SAARC Seed Forum (SSF)
As per recommendation of the Workshop
(December 2009, India) on “Quality Seed in
SAARC member countries: Production,
Processing, Legal & Quality Control and
Marketing System” SSF was established
during the “Bangladesh Seed Congress &
Fair-2010”, Bangladesh with the mandate to
promote sustainable and coherent
development of Seed System.

17. The specific objectives:
- to advocate and support development of
harmonized and suitable policies and
strategies and regulatory frameworks;
- to help preparing action plan and
pursuing of implementation for
sustainable development of seed system
- to act as a common platform to promote
business among the countries

18. .