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There is no congress or agricultural seminar in which the need for a new Seed Law goes unnoticed. The former Minister of Agribusiness, Ricardo Buryaile, said that in 2017 a new one would be sanctioned. A few days ago, the current holder of the agro-industrial portfolio, Luis Miguel Etchevehere, commented that the project would come out in this legislative period of the Congress.

To discuss this issue, on Thursday 24 a day was held at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Belgrano, called: "Seed Law, a pending subject".

Professionals from the public and private sector who know the subject closely and have a great interest in sanctioning the new law, since the last one dates from 1973, they referred to the points in which there is discord and to the benefits that this new legislation for the country.

"New rules of the game are urgent"

During the day, Gilberto Alegre, national deputy for the Front Renovador in the period 2013-2017 and author of a Seed Law Project (file 3077/16), presented and delivered a book in which he collects the contributions and discussed during Two days of discussion in the Congress in which the interested sectors participated, important points of consensus were reached, but no treatment was achieved, not even in the Commission.

When asked by Agrofy News about the reform project of the Law of Seeds of the Ministry of Agribusiness that circulates and as it transpired, it will soon be presented in the Chamber of Deputies. Alegre, said: "I do not think we can continue working on the previous law because they are patches to a very old project. From then until the present everything has changed remarkably and the creation of a new law is needed".

In this sense, in the presentation of the book, Alegre expresses: "We are urged by new rules of the game".

Before a packed auditorium, he pointed to the ruling party and said: "There are certain times when decisions have to be made and the governments of recent years have not been able to reach a consensus," adding: "The State is necessarily the arbitrator when everyone thinks differently, This discussion may be thirty years old, but it has never been as eminent as it is now".

The reasons for having a new Law

In turn, Federico Trucco, CEO of Bioceres S.A. He stated that "the discussion has to do with the use of self and the onerousness of a good that is self-applicable. The seeds are replicable and that generates difficulty over property rights. " Meanwhile, he predicted: "We hope that Congress will give us, once and for all, what Argentina needs in the 21st Century," he said.

For his part, the agricultural entrepreneur, Gustavo Grobocopatel, was clear and forceful: "We are living from the innovations that we made 25 years ago, and we are timidly doing things for ten years from now".

Due to the opinions raised about the law, he clarified: "It does not have to do with a company but with the future and where we are going". Grobo, said that we must go towards a viable and just law, viable because it has to be simple, and fair, so that we all win or lose.

For the employer, the law has to encourage 100% of the seed to be certified. In turn, he stressed that "the onerous own use would generate a fund where the money returns to the companies, earmarking it for research and prior to control".

Meanwhile, the general manager of the Association of Argentine Seeds (ASA), Alfredo Paseyro, stressed: "ASA calls for a Seed Law for all crops that are strategic for their region." Paseyro, asked those present to help bring the opposition sectors closer to the debate in Congress.

In a dialogue with Agrofy, he pointed out that one of the objectives of ASA for this year has to do with the Seed Law, as a solution to what is the recognition of innovation. In this regard, she explained: "During 2017, three of the four entities of the Liaison Bureau actively participated; FAA was left out, although she was always invited; ACREA, AAPRESID and the industry, in the preparation of a document that was delivered in December to the Ministry of Agribusiness. There is a consensus that a solution must be found, it can not continue to be delayed and the Government must lead it".

Paseyro, said that since the association point to continue to grow the seed industry (regional crops, specialties) and maintain regulatory frameworks that give predictability to what Argentina uses and that is negotiated with those destinations for example China that require approval and then an awareness in caring for the Earth. "We need to take care of the Earth and surely with the use of fewer resources," he suggested.

Social economic effect

"Many years ago, Argentina needs this law," said Antonio Aracre, Syngenta's General Director for South Latin America. In this regard, he noted that he sees three very clear advantages, one strategic, one agronomic and another, social economic.

In dialogue with Agrofy, each explained: "The strategic one is to combine the scientific knowledge industry with the production of efficient commodities and discover a new sector that generates foreign exchange and exports in Argentina that we need so much to straighten out the external deficit issue; the second is to attack an agronomic dilemma, the growing need to find new and sustainable solutions to the topic of resistant weeds. There are already existing technologies that do not reach the country because we do not have an appropriate regulatory framework".

A special attention, deserves the social economic reason, since according to Aracre by virtue of having that law would generate a new industry that would create 100,000 jobs and a lot of investment. "We can not be so foolish as to stop a project that Argentina is currently in need of as imperative as the arrival of genuine non-financial investments and the creation of jobs," he said.

In another order, when asked about the challenges faced by Syngenta in the rest of the year, Aracre responded: "The main challenge we have after the acquisition of Nidera is to make an intelligent integration and reach the producer with a great offer. more extensive, very competitive in all the crops in seeds and with the professional leadership that we always had in the sector of crop protection".

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Source: www.agrofy.com.ar
Automatic translation from spanish.