Certain events during the period under review had a significant impact on the international seed trade and certainly also on the local horticultural seed trade.  The outbreak of SARS and the start of the Iraq war resulted in a worldwide scare on travel.  As a result of this, less international visits were undertaken by seedsmen and the first conference of the ISF, hosted by the Indian Seed Association in Bangalore, turned out to be the smallest conference in many years.  The strengthening of the rand against all major currencies brought huge relief for importers of high value F1 seeds.  This benefit was also noted in the prices of other products like chemicals where prices of some products were reduced significantly.  This contributed in keeping input costs for growers fairly stable.   On the other hand, exporters of seed and fresh produce were severely affected by this and most exporting companies experienced a decline in both turnover and margins.

Mr DE (David) Malan Chairman: Horticulture Division

The worldwide over-supply in most types of horticultural seed eventually started to subside during this year and subsequently we saw international prices starting to increase.  During the past two years many seed companies relied heavily on the   availability of seed in stock with much less new seed productions.  Since the inventory levels of most companies went down significantly, however, we expect that seed shortages of several horticultural species would occur in the near future.  This would undoubtedly impact on the South African industry as well.

The period under review also presented interesting new challenges to the Horticultural Division Committee.  During regular meetings, several issues were seriously debated and addressed to the best of the committee’s ability.  The meetings were generally well attended by members and some observers.  Other stakeholders were also invited to attend some meetings in order to discuss matters of mutual interest.

During the Annual General Meeting during this period, Dr Albert Modi presented a paper on seedling pull rate.  The Horticultural Committee recommended commitment to the worthy research and at the Annual General Meeting a mandate was given to SANSOR to write a letter of intent to support the research of Dr Modi by partial funding from Natal University, SANSOR and stakeholder companies with an interest in this research.  It was proposed that the research should be published in an international journal on seed technology.   Dr Modi submitted a paper to the Natal University and a summary of this work had also been circulated to state what benefits this work would have for the seed industry.  Companies should take note that results on the development of a model to relate seed quality and seedling performance would be made available only to contributing companies.

After careful consideration by the committee, it was decided that the membership of SANSOR to Five-a-Day for better health, would be discontinued.  It was decided that it should be left to each member to negotiate independent membership with Five-a-Day.  SA Veg was founded during the period under review out of the Joint Action Group.  This was destined to develop into a fully fledged producer’s organization with the commitment of the Department of Trade & Industry.  The latter Department showed willingness to fund this organization on a 50/50 basis.  This committee felt that, at this time, it would be worth our while to stay involved with SA Veg.

Owing to certain problems experienced by seed companies concerning small parcels by airmail and the time it took to pass these through customs, the committee investigated and discussed these problems and it was decided that any future problems would be handled on a case-by-case basis.  In respect of phytosanitary constraints on horticultural seed imports and exports, the committee invited a member of the Directorate of Plant & Quality concerned with phytosanitary matters to attend a meeting of the Horticultural Division Committee to discuss these matters.  This resulted in very fruitful discussions.

The monitoring of expensive seed remained a contentious issue and the Directorate of Genetic Resources had some concerns on the trade’s definition on expensive seed.  After some discussion by the committee it was decided to change the definition so that it would read “All vegetable hybrid seed sold by count”.  Only registered laboratory reports, according to International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) rules, would be acceptable and the meaning of checking and inspecting meant that only the quantity for the specific test would be sampled.  It was also clear to the committee that the Department reserved the right to do full monitoring of expensive seed lots.

As part of an on going discussion, the committee again touched on subjects like precision seed and organic seed.  The committee saw these as valuable marketing tools that would enable companies to categorize and promote the marketing of their vegetable seed, diversifying existing markets and developing new markets.  It was also discussed that abuse of this terminology and selling of seed in these categories that did not comply to the minimum standards and definitions as laid down, would destroy such market opportunities.  The discussions on seed of genetically modified organisms would also continue for a long time to come.   

The Seed Forum in Oudtshoorn was well established and it was clear to the committee that there was very good collaboration between the different vegetable seed producing companies.  This was demonstrated in the way in which the outbreak of Pseudomonas in onions was handled.  As stakeholders in seed production in South Africa they joined forces to initiate research on ways to prevent further outbreaks of this disease and to minimize the effect of this on the industry.  The Seed Forum was seen as a sub-division of the Horticultural Division and would liaise with this committee on an on going basis.

This and other issues would be some of the challenges that the new committee might continue to discuss and address.  In a changing environment, it was clear that the demand for higher quality seed and better varieties would continue to increase.  There would be growing pressure on seed companies to survive in this environment and the role of SANSOR was expected to become increasingly important in this new environment.         

Table 2 reflects the updated market statistics for the year 2003 of the most important horticultural crops under the auspices of the SANSOR Horticulture Division.