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Afghan seed entrepreneurs tour India
Kabul, 31
March 2008 -
Learning from and exchanging experiences with a growing and
thriving seed industry in India were the main objectives of a recent
14 day tour to Delhi and other Indian states by 15 Afghan seed
entrepreneurs from the private sector with 6 of their counterparts
from the public and NGO sectors in Afghanistan. Hosted by the
National Seeds Corporation (NSC) of India, the tour is part of the
capacity building efforts of the five year FAO “Variety and Seed
Industry Development” project being implemented jointly with the
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) with Euro
10 million funding from the European Union (EU).
For technical guidance during
the tour, the entrepreneurs were accompanied by some FAO staff
members and key MAIL staff including H.E. Pir Mohammad Azizi, Deputy
Irrigation Minister in MAIL. The study tour covered a wide spectrum
of the seed sector including state seed corporations, agricultural
universities, research institutes, seed testing laboratories,
private seed companies, seed processing centers, agriculture
machinery manufactures, seed certification agencies, breeder and
foundation seed farms and hybrid seed production fields.
The main points of discussion by
the participants related to how the Indian companies started their
respective seed businesses and the progress they have made so far,
main sources of capital including credit, promotion and marketing
systems and how they operate, enabling policies of the government
and approaches to future planning. The Afghan private companies made
use of the opportunity to extend invitations to their Indian
counterparts to visit and explore joint venture activities in
Afghanistan. Several Indian seed companies welcomed the idea and
showed enthusiasm to visit Afghanistan and assess suitable areas
particularly for hybrid seed production and how to develop
contractual arrangements for this purpose.
The Indian public sector
research institutes showed interest in the exchange of plant genetic
resources and undertaking joint variety testing and screening
trials. Afghanistan research stations could access advanced breeding
lines of important crops from their counterparts in India once
material transfer agreements are made between the two countries.
The Afghan seed enterprises have
returned home with fresh ideas and are enthusiastic to put these
into practice. Their aspirations hold a great promise for regional
cooperation and the growth of a viable seed industry in Afghanistan.
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