1. Iranian Seed Certification Scheme Samad Mobasser Seed & Plant Certification & Registration Institute Third ECOSA Meeting November 2011, Istanbul

2. About Iran  Total area is about 165 million ha  20 million ha is under cultivation  12.5 million ha is under annual cultivation  Major crops are: cereal; forages; oil seed crop; vegetable including potato  Iran has 10 th rank in world for horticultural products

3. Land use, “000” hectares FAOSTAT data 2010 2002200320042005200620072008 Country area 174515174515174515174515174515174515174515 Land area 162855162855162855162855162855162855162855 Agricultural Area 64044642656448647631478524807348294 Arable land & Permanent crops 17444176651788618107183281854918770 Arable land 16029161971636516533167011686917037 Permanent crops 1415146815211574162716801733 Permanent meadows and Pastures 46600466004660029524295242952429524

4. Agricultural facts  Total population is about 74 million  Roughly 17% is directly involve in agriculture  20% of domestic gross products is belong to agriculture sector  Sector produce about 80% of national food requirement

6. Agricultural crops, total production 000 tonnes FAOSTAT data 2010 and MOA 20022003200420052006200720082009 Wheat124501344014568143081466415887795713484 Barley30852908294028572956310415473446 Chick peas 302290287265325329113209 Beans, dry 210219226216208223183181 Lentils11711611111310110556.184 Maize14301653192619952166236117771643 Potatoes37564211445448304219402647074108 Rice, paddy 28882931254227372612266421842253 Seed cotton 345352420363284313294265 Soybeans190190198198185179197207 Sugar beet 60985729491649026709540718292041 Sugar Cane 37125196591155304959531530973035 Sunflower seed 414241.742.442.642.643.245

7. National Seed System   The Islamic Republic of Iran has implemented a certification scheme for cereals for many years (since 1949)   After 1957 Seed Control & Certification Dept.(SCCD) was sole organization within country for seed certification   SCCD was responsible for controling of localy produced seeds, seed import & export   SCCD hadn’t any responsibility about vegetative planting material cert. & variety registration

8. Current situation   A remarkable progress has been made in the seed policy and regulatory environment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. On 30th July 2003, the Government passed an Act of Plant Variety Right (PVR), Control and Certification of Seed and Planting Material (Seed Law 33709,). For implementation of the provisions of this act an institute so called “Seed and Plant Certification and Registration Institute (SPCRI) was established.

9. National Seed Policy Targets  Eliminating direct role of state in seed production  Decreasing subsidies  New participators involvement in the National Seed System  Facilitating seed movement  Increasing farmer’s choice right (cultivar, quality and price)

10. SPCRI Main Tasks 1. 1. Registration of New Varieties of Plants 2. 2. Introduction of Crop Varieties 3. 3. Seed Certification 4. 4. Certification of Vegetative Planting Materials 5. 5. Research

11. Regulatory Pyramid of Iranian Seed System Seed and Plant Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Act of Registration of Plant Varieties and Control and Certification of Seed and Seedlings Main By Law (seed and Plant Certification) By law of Variety Introduction By law of Variety registration Field Inspection Guidelines Seed Sampling Procedures DUS Guidelines VCU Testing Guidelines

12. Formal and Informal Seed Production and Distribution Crop Productio n area (000 ha) Recommended seed rate (Kg) Seed require ment (ton) Formal seed (ton) Formal Seed % % informal seed Seed impo rtati on (ton) Wheat675018012150003862143268------ Barley1700180306000226107.492.6------ Maize36022-259180131001000.0≈ 500 Canola2168-10185013461000.0485 Soybean9060540064321000.0------ Paddy63040252004501.898.2------ Potato185350064750012460019.280.8750 Alfalfa59020240034014.285.8------

13. National List of Varieties are Eligible for Certification For first time, were published early 2011 including 712 varieties as:  335 crop varieties  225 vegetable varieties  153 fruit trees varieties

14. Amount of seed produced and distributed 2006-2010 (T)

15. Quantity of major imported seed (Kg) CROP200620072008 Onion223053683033682 Radish229382294018912 Grass353395368945385240 Spinach370003300026820 Sugar beet 80996134136221875 Melon483544711050 Cucumber111273118433126452 Squash13785232478894 Tomato611923721445864 Watermelon407788532775214 Carrot180453259923514 Potato146737522540004852000 Canola247420622950480520 Cabbages102530212514 Sweet Pepper 133018701440

16. 2006-2010 Amount of seed imported 2006-2010

17. SPCRI has 3 National and reference laboratory   National Seed Testing lab. (for purity, germination and moisture content tests) with annual 12500 tests   National Seed Health lab. (on true seeds and potato with total amount of 8400 samples)   Molecular Tools lab. (for genetic purity and variety registration proposes)

18. International and Regional Organization  ISTA member since 1975  Member of OECD Seed Scheme (sugar beet)  Observer member of UPOV  ISF (8 private companies)  ECOSA

19. DUS Guidelines  During past 3 years, 46 guidelines were published  9 new guidelines are under press

20. 4 New DUS Guidelines were Developed by SPCRI  Pistachio  Date Palm  Pomegranate  Saffron SPCRI is trying to approve and publish globally by UPOV