2Objective

 

In the frame of the Organic Law it will be essential that Ukraine has sufficient quantity and the right varieties of seeds in certified organic quality available. Next to the propa-gation activities of organic farmers, trade

and import of organic seeds need to be facilitated. At the same time research has to be stimulated as only cultivars adapted to organic systems in Ukraine are key for using the full potential of organic agriculture in the country. Boosting organic seed and plant breeding across Ukraine is therefore essential to successfully implement the Organic Law of Ukraine. The availability of organic seeds and information access hereto has been identified as one of the main topics, not only for the successful implementation of the Ukrainian Or-ganic Law, but also for safeguarding organic exports in the EU after 2021, when the new EU-Regulation No. 848/2018 will be enforced. In this context MDETA has re-quested COA for support in finding respective solutions and several activities are on the way. More

2.1What is needed

The present situation sees obstacles, such as:

organic seed is not largely available in Ukraine; there are technical difficulties in organic seed production; inconsistent implementation of the EU organic legislation; insufficient or nil organic breeding programs in the country. More

2.2What we want to achieve

In the frame of COA’s mission to contribute to strengthening the training and further education of the organic sector in Ukrainian we aim to:

improve availability and quality of organic seed analyse and optimise organic seed markets, supply chains and business models of breeders and seed producers support the development of an organic seed database for Ukraine foster harmonised implementation of the Organic Law on the use of organic seed topic stimulate innovative breeding approaches suited to organic farming in the country widen the choice of organic cultivars meeting the demand of farmers, proces-sors, retailers and consumers develop guidelines for organic cultivar testing and registration evaluate the consumer acceptance of using new plant breeding techniques in the organic seed sector to reach 100% use of organic seed of adapted cultivars on the long run

We will actively support MDETA, FSA and all stakeholders - representatives and deci-sion makers of policy development and competent authorities, seed breeders and trad-ers, farmers and farmers associations, researchers, national and international experts - to:

better understand social, cultural and economic factors that impact on the competiveness of the organic seed sector from different perspectives; bringing national stakeholders together with international experts for discus-sion and solution findings; identify gaps and bottlenecks along the market development for organic seed and improve transparency and competitiveness of the organic seed and breeding sector; encourage greater use of organic seed in the country; actively contribute to the development of recommendations. More

3The Program

Activity Implementation of Organic Law 2496-VIII: Boosting Organic Seed and Plant Breeding Efforts in Ukraine Interaction with the Ministry (MDETA)

The COA team and experts are continuously in contact with the Ministry and all activities are streamlined with the priorities set by the political decision makers.

Survey among organic CBs active in Ukraine

Basic data is presently collected about the actual situation regarding the use and availability of organic seeds in Ukraine, information that will later be fed into a baseline study and made available to the public.

Expert contribu-tions to relevant issues around or-ganic seed

National and international experts have been requested to prepare pa-pers and presentations related to the seed subject:

Analysis of the determinants of the current availability, production and use of organic seed in Ukraine. Presentation of the results gained from the survey among CBs about the actual use of organic seed in the country (Eugene Chebotarev, Policy advisory expert) Key factors for encouragement of greater use of organic seed (Xenia Gatzert, Research associate FIBL Projekte GmbH and LIVE-SEED - a project under the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innova-tion programme, Germany) Organic seed uptake as a consequence of EU legislation – how Ger-many developed its organic seed market during the last 20 years (Dr. Stefan Dreesmann, Head of Division Nutrient Management, Fer-tilization, Agri-Environmental Policy, Organic Farming at Lower Sax-ony Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Germa-ny) OrganicXseed databank as a successful example for provision of up-to-date information about the availability of organic seed (Xenia Gatzert) Regular update on the COA webpage (http://coa-ukraine.com )

All information produced will be made available on our webpage. We also plan to start a news blog around the subject of organic seed in the near future.

Planning the 1st Organic Seed Round Table

As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to cancel the 1st Organic Seed Round Table planned to be held in April 2020 in Kyiv, we have postponed this 2-days event to a later time in autumn. Once a new date is determined stakeholders will be informed accordingly. The main con-tent of the Round Table will be:

Analysis of the determinants of the current availability, production and use of organic seed. Presentation of the results gained from the sur-vey among CBs active in Ukraine about the actual use of organic seed in the country. Development of a national database on organic seed and enhance-ment of transparency of the organic seed market. Legislation on production, registration, trade, import and use of seed in Ukraine (in general and for organic agriculture). Strategies for increasing the volume and quality of organic seeds de-rived from cultivars suited for organic farming. Stimulation of greater uptake of organic seed through knowledge sharing, scientific exchange and best practices and capacity building of breeders, seed producers, farmers, retailers, researchers, and oth-er actors of the food value chain. Raising awareness of policy-makers and competent authorities re-garding the importance of using organically bred seeds in organic farming. Best-practice examples for organic seed development from Germa-ny.

Development of recommendations and conceptualization for a Ukrainian Organic Seed Roadmap.

More

OrganicXseed Organic Seeds Databasehttps://www.organicxseeds.de/

The availability of a database of organic seeds is a requirement under Regulations EC 834/2007 and 889/2008, which regulate the use of organically produced seeds and seed potatoes in organic farming.

Seed and crop companies / companies provide the Xseeds.de database with information on organically propagated plant varieties available in Germany.

OrganicXseed is also a platform for the distribution of vegetative-propagating material (except seed potatoes). However, for the use of propagating material not obtained on the principles of organic farming, regulation at the level of the relevant federal land is taken into account.

The range of seeds and vegetative-propagating material presented in this database serves as a basis for decision-making by the relevant regulatory authorities. But, of course, the information presented in the database will in no way replace obtaining an official permit for the use of inorganically produced seeds and vegetative-propagating material!

 
Presentation 1 
Presentation 2

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