Quality Seed | Quality Life
May 2024 Newsletter
Dear Members and Partners,
I trust all of you are doing well. It's been another engaging month for me: earlier in May I was in Tainan to attend the APSA and WorldVeg Breeding Consortium 8th Annual Workshop, which you can read and hear about in this month's newscast (see video link above).
I have just wrapped up my visit to the Netherlands, where I attended the ISF closed meetings of the Coordination Groups and, of course, the World Seed Congress with about 2,000 colleagues and partners in the global seed community. This year ISF is celebrating its centennial, and it has been inspiring to see how far the association has come in 100 years along with the developments in the industry.
The ISF CG meetings were very useful in keeping track of the regulatory developments and advocacy on seed at international level, while my many interactions during the congress proved just how Asia-Pacific is an attractive and exciting market and where our sector can play a focal role in food security. Therefore, we need to build the right environment for the private sector to thrive.
We signed several partnerships during the World Seed Congress in Rotterdam: a structured cooperation with ISF through a Memorandum of Understanding to work on several fronts including technical capacity building and support to national seed associations; a partnership with CGIAR to improve farmers’ access to quality seed and innovation; and a collaboration with 12 other organizations to fight illegal seed practices.
As you know, APSA is celebrating our 30th anniversary this year, and for this I'd like to ask all of you to consider sharing a memory and/or well wishing message via 30years.apsaseed.org. As you read this I am returning to Bangkok, and will prepare to travel next week to Sanya, China for our executive committee meeting. There's a lot to do, and I will relay more in my quarterly address next month. Until then!
Ms. Francine Sayoc
APSA Executive Director
THANK YOU to our digital media sponsors
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Let me start of with an important reminder that APSA’s membership term is from 1 January to 31 December, 2024. Membership renewal can be done from 1 January 2024 until 31 March, 2024 t o maintain your active status in APSA and thank you so much for your member who have renewed your membership renewal 2024.
After 31 March, if your membership is not renewed, your status will be SUSPENDED and this means you will not be able to register for any APSA activities & Asian Seed Congress 2024 held in Sanya, China from 2-6 December 2024. APSA Membership Fees are non-refundable, and we do not provide pro rata membership rates.
Please be advised that all members who still not yet renew your 2024 membership, you still be able to be viewed and downloaded. To view, print and/or make payment for your invoice, please visit APSA website. For your convenience, please CLICK HERE to view the Tutorial presentation on how to proceed for your APSA 2024 Membership Renewal invoice and payment process.
Since the start of 2024 through to today, we have a total of 408 active APSA Members who have renewed their 2024 Membership, and we are welcome 39 new APSA Membership in 2024.
Please be informed that we have successfully opened a new bank account with Standard Chartered in Singapore, details are below. And we are happy to inform you that you will now be able to settle online payment via Credit / Debit Card. CLICK HERE to view the Tutorial presentation on how to proceed or follow the steps as following.
Step 1: Log in to your member portal. CLICK HERE
Step 2: Acknowledge the APSA Code of Conduct.
Step 3: Follow the instructions shown on the screen.
Step 4: or Click "Invoices" from the dashboard.
Step 5: Review your renewal invoice and proceed to pay.
BANK DETAILS:
Beneficiary's account name: ASIA AND PACIFIC SEED ALLIANCE LTD.
Beneficiary's bank name: Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Limited
Beneficiary's bank Branch: Battery Road
Beneficiary's bank code: 9496
Beneficiary's bank address: 6 Battery Road, #08-01, Singapore 049909
Beneficiary's Account number (USD): 01-0-600568-5
GIRO/Standing instructions – SCBLSG22XXX
Swift code or IBAN #: SCBLSG22XXX
Looking forward to your kind cooperation at your earliest convenience which will be highly beneficial for us and would be greatly appreciated.
Mr. Komsak Kamjing (Bobbie)
APSA Membership Coordination Manager
APSA EVENTS
2024 APSA Seed Technology Webinar - Session 1
APSA will once again be holding the Seed Technology Webinar Series. This year will be the fourth year APSA will be holding this webinar series, with topics on Seed Extraction, Post-Harvest Handling, Seed Health Testing, Seed Storage & Seed Packaging.
Registration is now open for the 1st Session of the 2024 APSA Seed Technology Webinar Series, which will be held on Friday the 21st of June 2024 from 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm (GMT+7). The main focus of this webinar will be Seed Extraction & Post-Harvest Handling of Seeds, and will feature a total of 4 guest speakers.
To view the webinar agenda, speaker profile & abstract and for registration, please visit the official evet webpage at https://web.apsaseed.org/events/2024-apsa-seed-technology-webinar-session-1
2024 APSA Large Seed Vegetables & Brassicaceae Okra (LSVBO) Thank God It's Friday
APSA is happy to announce a brand-new webinar series, the 2024 APSA Large Seed Vegetables & Brassicaceae Okra (LSVBO) Thank God It's Friday. This new webinar series will consist of 4 sessions covering large seed vegetables, Brassicaceae and okra in Asia and the Pacific Region and will be held on Friday with the months of March, June, September and November.
One-Time payment of the registration will allow access to all 4 webinar sessions. Additional benefits include access to APSA Seed Academy Platform in 2024 with certificate of attendance and record of each session and a special 5% discount for the same person to attend the physical 2024 APSA Asian Solanaceous-Cucurbit Roundtable (ASCRT 2024).
The second session of the LSVBO TGIF Webinar will be held Friday, 28 June 2024 and will focus on Okra, with both guest speakers from ICAR-IIHR Bengaluru. For more details regarding registration fee, agenda, speaker profile and how to register, please visit https://web.apsaseed.org/events/2024-apsa-lsvbo-tgif-webinar-session-2
2024 Asian Solanaceous & Cucurbits Round Table (ASCRT 2024)
We regret to inform you that the APSA’s R&D Advisory Group has made the decision to postpone the 2024 Asian Solanaceous and Cucurbits Round Table (ASCRT 2024), which had initially been scheduled to be held 4 – 5 June 2024 in Los Banos, Philippines. We anticipate the rescheduled event to be held in Quarter 3 or 4 in Thailand and will inform you as soon as details are confirmed. So, please stay tuned for more details. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your kind understanding.
2024 Asian Seed Congress
The 2024 Asian Seed Congress will be held at the Mangrove Tree Resort Convention Center in Sanya, Hainan, China from the 2nd to the 6th of December 2024, and is co-hosted by the China National Seed Trade Association (CNSTA) with support from Sanya City Government and Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City (ZBTSC).
This year APSA will be celebrating its 30th Year Anniversary, with a special congress theme of “Riding the Wave of Growth in the Asia Pacific.” We will also introduce new Technical Sessions under the sub-topics of Our Business Landscape Today and Tomorrow; Accelerating and Safeguarding Innovation; and Moving Quality Seeds Across Borders.
Available at this year’s congress will be 204 trading tables (125 tables remaining), 16 semi-private meeting rooms (SOLD OUT), 9 private meeting rooms (5 rooms remining) and 60 regular exhibition booths (29 regular booths remaining) and 14 super booths (3 super booths remaining)
Register now and also benefit from the discounted Early-Bird Registration Fee of 700 USD per delegate. In the first month alone, we already have over 360 registered delegates. ASC 2024 Early-Bird Registration will end 30 June 2024.
We highly recommend all APSA Members to register early since acquiring a visa to enter China may take some time.
For more information on congress agenda, official floor plan, China Visa & Import Policy, how to register and other congress related details, please visit the official event page at https://web.apsaseed.org/asc2024
Mike Kingapayom
APSA Event Manager
APSA-WorldVeg Vegetable Breeding Consortium
The 2024 consortium annual workshop was held on 7-8 May 2024 at WorldVeg headquarters in Tainan. 73 participants from 38 consortium companies, two staff from APSA, and 20 WorldVeg scientists, gathered together for two days of presentations, information exchange and discussions on the Center’s breeding work and field evaluations of elite breeding lines. Please kindly click the link HERE for more information of the annual workshop.
Consortium membership increased from 19 members in 2017 to 51 in 2023. Seven seed companies joined the Consortium for the first time in 2023, and 43% of members are small companies with less than a hundred employees. WorldVeg sent 1,156 seed samples to seed companies in 2023 and 11,613 seed samples since the start of the Consortium in 2017. A survey conducted among the past and current members showed that an increasing number of seed companies are using WorldVeg pepper, tomato, bitter gourd, and pumpkin germplasm in their breeding programs. For more details of the survey report, please click the link HERE.
WorldVeg newly published its Annual Report 2023. If you are interested in it, you could download it from the link HERE. The content of the consortium is from Page 32-34.
A special project entitled “Developing Host Resistance to Thrips in Chilli, a Multilateral Pre-Breeding Approach” is launched under the APSA-WorldVeg Vegetable Breeding Consortium in February 2024 and we are pleased to inform you that the registration period is extended to 30 June 2024 and the project fees are reduced. For the updated project activities, timeline and deliverables, please visit the event page for details, CLICK HERE.
If you have any problem or need help from APSA Secretariat, pls contact APSA Technical Program Manager Ms. Xiaofeng Li at xiaofeng@apsaseed.org
Ms. Xiaofeng Li
APSA Partnership Program Manager
Standing Committees and Special Interest Groups
And now an update on APSA Standing Committees and Special Interest Groups. Following is a summary review of the APSA SC/SIG activities in this month:
Starting with the SC Plant Breeding Innovation:
An upcoming webinar on Plant Breeding Innovation (PBI) is being organized by the APSA Plant Breeding Innovation Committee. Currently the webinar is set to be held on August 13, 2-3pm. More information will be shared later.
Let us move to an update from Standing Committee on Seed Technology:
To encourage more participation, APSA and the working group for the APSA Seed Technology Webinar have decided to shift the date for Session 1, focusing on seed extraction and post-harvest handling of seeds, from May to June 21st. Four distinguished speakers—Tim Loeffler of Seed Vigour Consulting LLC, Alan Gaul from the ISU Seed Science Center at Iowa State University, and Rajiv Iyer and Charles Smith of GTE Technology Australia—are eager to share their expertise on the theme “Innovation in Seed Supply Chain.” APSA members are encouraged to register now for the 2024 APSA Seed Technology Webinar - Session 1 at 2024 APSA Seed Technology Webinar - Session 1 - APSA Seed
Next is an update from SC IPR & Biodiversity:
During the 2nd quarter committee meeting, the committee congratulated the new Chair of APSA SC IPR & Biodiversity, Mr Fabrice Mattei, Principal and Head of Patent Group and Head of Climate Change Group from Rouse & Co. International (Thailand) Ltd., and also welcome Dr Ming-Chung Liu, Deputy Director of Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station (TSIPS) who first time join the committee meeting.
For members who missed the webinar on “Understanding Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) organized on May 17th, you may find the recordings and presentations in the link below.
This webinar is organized by the ISF Coordination Group Genetic Resources, with support from APSA to build a better understanding of the concepts that underpin ABS. Here's what you can expect to learn:
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE WEBINAR AND DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION
On another note, we are pleased to share that on May 24th WIPO member states approved the Treaty related to Intellectual Property, genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge. This is a historic breakthrough that capped decades of negotiations.
The Treaty, once it enters into force with 15 contracting parties, will establish in international law a new disclosure requirement for patent applicants whose inventions are based on genetic resources and/or associated traditional knowledge. Several legislations in Asia (for example Indonesia) have already enacted a similar disclosure requirement. For more info, visit our newsletter on seed industry news section at: (STEVEN to put link)
And that’s it and stay tuned!
Next is an update from the Standing Committee on International Trade & Quarantine:
This month, the APSA Standing Committee on International Trade & Quarantine held its second-quarter meeting to discuss and brainstorm several important topics. These included planning for the 11th Phytosanitary Expert Consultation scheduled for 2025, organizing the technical session for the December Asian Seed Congress, and ongoing advocacy efforts. The committee agreed on action points to follow up on in the coming months. Stay tuned for further updates!
Next is an update from SIG Field Crops:
This month, the APSA SIG Field Crops committee has been actively brainstorming to develop an exciting Field Crops study tour program in Vietnam, tentatively scheduled for September or October this year. The program will feature visits to both public and private institutions specializing in rice and corn. Stay tuned for more details!
Moving to the Special Interest Group on Vegetables and Ornamentals
The Special Interest Group on Vegetables and Ornamentals (SIG V&O) committee and APSA Secretariat have been working on the possibility to organize study tour on the theme of urban and hi-tech farming in Singapore and Malaysia. They will have the 2nd quarter meeting next month to update the progress as well as the activities of SIG V&O subgroups.
The Working Group of Integrated Vegetable Seed Companies or WIC
This month, WIC members and the APSA Secretariat have been diligently focusing on the follow-up action points regarding the variety registration issue in Vietnam. On May 14th, representatives from APSA, CropLife Asia, and CropLife Vietnam met with the Director General of the Department of Crop Production.
The meeting with the Director General was productive. We expressed our gratitude for his time and briefed him on the current situation regarding variety infringement in Vietnam. We provided a list of the infringed varieties, clarifying that it is representative and not exhaustive.
As for the next steps, we will prepare a letter summarizing our discussions and proposals to the Director General. We will continue to monitor and follow up on this issue. Additionally, we plan to support the authorities by organizing a consultative workshop to discuss amendments to the variety law and provide our input.
For The R&D Advisory Group,
The APSA R&D Advisory Committee would like to convey a sincere appreciation and gratitude to Dr Shreeshail Hadapad from Indo American Hybrid Seeds who have been with APSA R&D AG since 2021. We wish him all the best for his future endeavor and hope the path will come across again.
The committee has been working on the preparation of the 2024 APSA Large Seed Vegetables & Brassicaceae Okra (LSVBO) Thank God It's Friday (TGIF) Session 2 on Okra. The session will be held on June 28 at 2.00 – 4.00 pm Bangkok time. For more details regarding registration fee, agenda, speaker profile and how to register, please visit https://web.apsaseed.org/events/2024-apsa-lsvbo-tgif-webinar-session-2
Besides, APSA is pleased to announce that registration is now re-open for a 3-year collaborative project title “Breeding for Chilli Leaf Curl Disease (ChiLVD) and South East Asian Thrips (Thrips parvispinus) resistance in Chilli” with ICAR- Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore. The registration opens until July 15, 2024. For more info, visit https://web.apsaseed.org/events/apsa-iihr-project
The Disease Resistance Terminology Working Group or DRT,
The bitter gourd powdery mildew subgroup and the watermelon fusarium wilt subgroup continue to work on their respective processes as discussed in their early April meetings.
For the bitter gourd subgroup, it was agreed to explore alternate sources of bitter gourd seeds for research purposes in collaboration with the World Vegetable Center. Acsen AgriScience is currently assessing the quantity of seeds available in each variety for the required tests for export. Additionally, other members are verifying if the seed quantities are sufficient for testing in their respective countries. Meanwhile, APSA is working on the extension of the research timeline for NBA agreement.
Regarding the watermelon subgroup, the seeds have been harvested and are ready for distribution. The working group is determining the number of seeds to be sent to each company.
This is all for now for the short SC/SIG updates. Thank you very much and stay tuned for more updates next month.
Kunaporn Phuntunil
APSA Technical Coordination Manager
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As part of APSA’s sustained digitalization and digitization efforts, in 2023 we’re offering active members even more ways to directly reach Asia-Pacific seed industry decision makers -- in their inbox, on their desktop PCs, laptops, smartphone, tablets, and phablets alike, through our exciting new affiliate, sponsorship, marketing, communication, advertising and publicity opportunities.
We are pleased to announce our 2023 Digital Media Sponsorship Rates and Media Kit:
Don’t hesitate, INQUIRE NOW!
Email: (komsak@apsaseed.org) or Mike (mike@apsaseed.org)
Asian Seed magazine Vol. 30 No.1 (Quarter 1, January - March 2024)
In this first issue of Volume 30 of Asian Seed & Planting Material, there is a plethora of content covering the latest news from the Asia and Pacific Seed Alliance (APSA) and the greater APAC seed industry. Starting with an address from APSA President Dr. Manish Patel who recaps a productive first quarter representing APSA at a number of important Indian functions including the 11th Indian Seed Congress. APSA’s new Executive Director Francine Sayoc gives her first quarterly address, recalling her impressions from fresh visit to Sanya, China where the China Seed Congress was held, and where APSA will be organizing this year’s Asian Seed Congress in December. There’s also featured content about Türkiye seed industry; APSA’s 10th Expert Phytosanitary Consultation in the Philippines; and summaries from the 2023 Asian Seed Congress held last November in Christchurch, New Zealand. Finally, there’s a story about APSA's preparations and plans to mark its 30th Anniversary celebrations this year, as well as more timely and pertinent content and introduction to new members joining APSA’s various committees.
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