b'Connecting the DotsFor the Asia-Pacific Seed Association and its executive director, bolstering intellectual property enforcement is a top priority.Marc ZienkiewiczIT CAN BEhard to make sense ofinputs and difficulties getting labor for all the implications of the COVID- seed production and processing. 19 pandemic, but Asia-Pacific SeedReduced access to finance was also Association (APSA) executive directorreported by 64% of the respondents. May Chodchoey is used to looking backYet, international seed shipments clearly at a situation and making the most ofappear as the most severely affected what she learned from it. aspect of the seed industry with 52% While working on her PhD in biotech- of the respondents reporting a strong nology at Mahidol University in Bangkok,negative effect, according to the survey Thailand, she was often inspired by theresults.words of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, especially his 2005 Stanford UniversityBolstering IPcommencement address, in which heFor Chodchoey, the key to strengthen-encouraged people to connect the dotsing the Asia-Pacific seed trade is to by looking backward and learning fromstrengthen its system of intellectual their mistakes. property protection. She cites lack of In a world obsessed with lookingIP enforcement as the top factor that ahead to the future and not dwelling onMay Chodchoey is the executive director ofaffects seed businesses throughout the the past, she has always rememberedthe Asia-Pacific Seed Association. region. those words. There is no one-size-fits-all solution Severe restrictions on the movementsThere are so many unique thingsand it still depends a lot on a region or of people and goods imposed in recentabout Asia-Pacific, she says. We are socountry to develop their own strategy, months are having widespread negativediverse. The languages, the crop types,she says. effects on the seed industry in the Asia- the climate, the culture and the environ- I personally think that a strong col-Pacific region, with international seedment are so varied. Its not always thelaboration between regional organiza-trade particularly affected, a survey ofsuccess stories, but the failures that cantions and the private sector to send clear seed companies finds. help us all to be more proactive. messages, facilitate information exchange Chodchoey chooses to look at theIn this spirit of collaboration, APSAs especially with regard to intellectual situation as an opportunity to highlightSpecial Interest Group for Vegetablesproperty protectioncan really help the strengths of and challenges faced byand Ornamentals recently joined with theus create a strong policy framework to the Asia-Pacific seed trade. AccordingWorld Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) totackle this issue.to APSA figures, the Asia-Pacific seedconduct a survey among seed compa- The region faces many challenges market was worth $22.9 billion in 2018,nies operating in the Asia-Pacific region.including plant variety protection systems which represents about 30% of the globalThe online survey sent to seed companyharmonization, seed legislation, patent seed market.managers recorded their opinions on howand trademark protection. APSA has We can be a leader geographically.the crisis has affected their business anddeveloped a position paper on intellectual Asia-Pacific has significant resources.identified emerging bottlenecks in theproperty rights for the seed industry so Many seed companies start seed produc- seed supply chain. each country can share this position to tion in this region. If we support stake- One thing has become clear as a resulttheir respective policy makers, ensuring IP holders by linking them with resourcesof the survey: nearly all aspects of Asia- law can be enforced.and other seed associations, that willPacifics seed business are negativelyWith increasing demand for food, feed help bring new knowledge and technol- affected by the pandemic, with more thanand fiber to meet the growing population, ogy to this region, says Chodchoey, who85% of respondents reporting negativethere is an urgent need to have innova-worked for a leading multinational seedeffects on international and domestictive breeding and research in important company prior to joining APSA. seed shipments, difficulties in gettingcrop plants, especially for securing food 60/ SEEDWORLD.COMJUNE 2020'