02/04/2009In order to establish a sustainable seed supply and thereby facilitate food security of member countries, the Plant Production and Protection Division (AGP) started an initiative termed “Seed Alliance Without Boundaries (SAWIB)”. The seed based initiative will cut across crop production and food industry domains. The objective is to create a forum to bring together stakeholders from the private and public sector of developed and developing seed and food industries for dialog that will facilitate the: a) transfer of technological and entrepreneurial skills for sustainable seed production and distribution; b) linkage of seed sector with farmers or crop producers; and c) linkage of crop producers to crop-value-addition industries. Overall, the initiative will facilitate the creation of seed industry that is market-driven and ensure sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. The first public-private-sector dialogue under this initiative took place from 2 -14 February when delegations from seed sector of three developing countries - Afghanistan, Iraq and Uzbekistan visited their counterparts in the developed seed industry of India to discuss cooperative joint-ventures.