Workshop on Quarantine For Seed In The Near East Region

Abstract

The workshop was held during the period 2 to 9 November 1991 in Aleppo, Syria. It was jointly organized by the Near East Regional Office of the food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and the Danish Government Institute for Seed Pathology for developing countries (DGISP). The workshop was attended by participants from, Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen. The program of the workshop and the list of participants are shown in Annex I1 and Annex I11 respectively. Dr. Taher on behalf of FA0 welcomed the participants and expressed his thanks to ICARDA for hosting the workshop; to the governments of Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen for their interest in the workshop; to CTA, EPPO, ICRISAT, GTZ, INRA (France) for Supporting and participating in the workshop. He also expressed the organizers' appreciation of CTA's support for publishing the workshop proceedings. Dr. Taher emphasized the importance of quarantine for seeds in minimizing the introduction and spread of seed-borne pests from one area/region/ continent to another and stressed the need for regional and international cooperation and coordination to ensure the safe movement of seeds. Be also brought to the attention the present efforts of FAO, international research centers, regional plant protection organizations, and research institutions in ensuring safe movement of seed/germplasm, which led to enacting regulations on quarantine for seed; establishment of quarantine facilities at the international research centers; development of reliable detection techniques and production of guidelines on the safe movement of germplasm. Dr. Taher pointed out that the Near East countries are trying to bridge the present gap between food production and nutritional requirements for their populations by introducing high-yielding cultivars, pest-resistant varieties, and/or germplasm to improve the quality and quantity of food production. As the level of quarantine for seed in most of these countries seem to be unsatisfactory, these introductions are often coupled with the introduction of seed-borne pathogens which leads to crop losses, shortage of production, and implementation of expensive plant protection measures. Dr. Taher concluded that the objective of the workshops is to assess the health status in the Near East as well as the available capabilities on quarantine for seed; to provide up to date knowledge on seed-borne pests and their detection; to list essential facilities required for seed health testing for quarantine; to prepare a tentative list of quarantine significant seed-borne pests, and to provide demonstrations on techniques used for pests detection in seeds.