A special plea was made for SANSOR members to become more involved in the activities of the Phytosanitary Standing Committee and make a difference in the seed trade.  The vice-chairman went so far as to compare this situation with a mouse in a bucket of milk, treading for survival.  This past year, however, various new members joined the committee and with all our swimming and kicking the milk was slowly turning into butter. It would be, therefore, only appropriate to start this report by thanking the committee, Susan Allen, Pierre Steyn, Mike Zingel, Marcus Botha, Louis Raath, Jac Duif, Koos Wolmarans, Steve van der Merwe, John Herbert and Allison Woods for all there contributions during the period under review.  In addition to these committee members, the SANSOR General Manager, invited the five associate-members from the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) to nominate representatives on this committee for an increased negotiating capacity.  The result of this action was Dr GC Prinsloo (ARC Institute for Industrial Crops – Rustenburg) and Dr N McLaren (Grain Crops Institute – Potchefstroom) joining the committee and their participation and inputs were sincerely appreciated.

Dr FJ (Rikus) Kloppers Chairman: SANSOR Phytosanitary Standing Committee

The committee had four meetings during the period under review and due to the enthusiastic participation of all members and the SANSOR Secretariat, the activities of this committee could only be described as a true team effort.

Officers from the office of the Executive Officer of Agricultural Pests were also invited to attend two of the meetings where certain key issues had been discussed and debated.  SANSOR also achieved full representation on the governmental working group on Sanitary & Phytosanitary (SPS) Market Access:  Seed & Grain during the period under review.  The following members served in the latter capacity, namely Agronomy – Dr. R Kloppers, Horticulture – Ms S Allen, Ornamentals –  Mr J Duif and Forage/SANSOR Secretariat – Mr E Goldschagg.

Seed health and its implications in international movement of seeds featured high on the agenda of the International Plant Pathology Society.  At the 8th international congress of plant pathology held in Christchurch NZ in 2003, with the theme  ”Solving problems in the real world”, it was apparent that seed health is one of these problems.  A lot of the phytosanitary issues that the seed industry often encounters had been described at these meetings as “political plant pathology”-  Karnal bunt in wheat, probably one of the most cited examples of seed borne diseases.  This is only one example and again just focused attention on the local seed industry and how we globally deal with phytosanitary matters.

In the international seed trade arena, the Brazil issue was still haunting the South African seed industry.  The SANSOR vice-chairman, Susan Allen had been instrumental in negotiations with Brazil and other interest groups on this issue.  The committee continued with its programme to establish seed borne pest lists for seed crops that the local industry would like to export to Brazil.  The emphasis was on crops traditionally exported (e.g. onion) and those of which the production process was underway prior to publication of the new Brazilian phytosanitary regulations.  The International Seed Federation (ISF) working group, which included a SANSOR representative, was informed that submissions made on a case-by- case basis for non-traditional crops, might be considered.  According to the Brazilian authorities, the term “traditional” constituted more than four exports in the last two years.  A case was made for beetroot in collaboration with the national plant protection authority and sent to the Brazilian government.  No direct response yet had been received in this regard.  In addition to the seed borne pest list submitted for beetroot, the onion pest list was almost complete. Some other vegetable and agronomy crops were to be tackled next.  SANSOR was notified in February 2004 that the Brazilian cabinet had rejected the first draft of an amended plant risk analysis protocol.  SANSOR, however, was still awaiting an official announcement of their latest position.  Contact was established with the Department of Trade & Industry and the committee was grateful to learn that the latter Department was willing to assist SANSOR in what appears to be, at least in part, an international trade barrier in the seed industry.

The Phytosanitary Standing Committee had also been dealing with various local issues.  At the last meeting of the South African Society for Plant Pathology (SASPP) meeting, similar problems as discussed at the ICPP meeting surfaced.  A plea was made at this meeting that scientists working at a more academic level and often forced into a “publish or perish mode” should especially take note of the implications their research could have on imports and exports of seed.  In this regard it was decided that the SANSOR Phytosanitary Standing Committee would be represented, as well as make a formal presentation at the 2005 annual SASPP meeting.   

Draft conditions of the Southern Africa Development Community’s (SADC) Seed Security Network (SSSN) for crops and pathogens were still being discussed.  An SSSN Technical meeting to formulate quarantine, import and export measures for seed in the SADC region was recently held.  Participation in this meeting was by invitation and Mr Eddie Goldschagg of the SANSOR Secretariat and Susan Allen of this committee attended on behalf of the South African seed industry.

The Procedures for the authorization of SANSOR inspectors to assist the Executive Officer of Agricultural Pests with the collection of information during field inspections for the issuing of phytosanitary certificates had been finalized and fully implemented.  Dates would be set for the theoretical examinations on an annual basis, while prescribed practical training would commence throughout the year.  To assist inspectors, members of this committee compiled checklists and disease profiles for most of the forage and agronomy crops, while lists for vegetable crops were in the process of completion.  New pests/pathogens per crop found, could only be added after approval by this committee and the SANSOR Secretariat would co-ordinate and distribute updated lists.

Movement of seeds implies movement of pathogens and the possible introduction of new diseases.  A well-known plant pathology/phytosanitary quote … “don’t be caught with your plants down…consult a plant pathologist!” summarizes what we were attempting during this particular period under review  - not only to be active, but also being pro-active.  I sincerely hope that some of our contributions summarized here serve as true reflection of the principle concerned.