Argentina: New Corn Seed Requires Traceability
27 August 2007 Argentina’s National Seed Association (INASE) recently reversed a ban on the sale of Syngenta’s GA21 corn, but the country’s agriculture minister Alvaro Rojas noted, "Approval [of GA21 seed sales] is conditioned on meeting traceability requirements from the time seeds are planted."
Seed vendors must request a document forcing producers to provide INASE with traceability data through a registered seed vendor before selling any of the seed. Farmers who purchase GA21 seeds must also inform transporters, processors, and exporters of the transaction, in order to eliminate themselves as suppliers to the EU, limiting themselves to supplying the domestic market or other foreign markets.
Sales have progressed as farmers have been willing to sign the documentation. However, exporters have criticized the system, citing delays that came up when the ministry implemented Argentina’s cattle/beef traceability system.
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