Optimizing seed import-export under COVID-19

Argentina, Chile, Morocco and the US look to digital solutions

Digital readiness in the supply chain has been revealed by the current pandemic as an urgent and critical need. Traditional links of the chain have been weakened or disrupted, and so various sectors like banking, retail and health services have taken a massive shift to electronic means of doing business. Consumers, employees and leaders are embracing an array of digital technologies in a more accelerated pace than ever before, out of necessity and need for efficiency.

Agricultural trade is no different, especially in phytosanitary measures which maintain standards for food safety and animal and plant health. For plant products like seed, global trading operations rely on steady communication and transparency in phytosanitary requirements to protect plant health and ensure international unrestricted and safe trade of goods.

Phytosanitary certificates are key in the trade of food and agricultural products, including seeds. For seeds, phytosanitary certificates are like passports that allow seed lots to cross borders, so that they can reach the market and become accessible to farmers who need them to grow crops. Efficiency in exchanging phytosanitary certificates is therefore incredibly important to sustain the farming sector and to safeguard food supply during the pandemic and beyond.

For plant products like seed, global trading operations rely on steady communication and transparency in phytosanitary requirements to protect plant health and ensure international unrestricted and safe trade of goods.

Electronic certification has proven itself indispensable under COVID-19 to maintain continuity of agricultural trade despite limitations on air traffic and courier services. Recently, the Industry Advisory Group (IAG) of the IPPC ePhyto Solution called on governments to support the adoption of the ePhyto solution.

The IPPC ePhyto Solution is a digital transmission system for phytosanitary certificates and is part of a global initiative towards trade facilitation. E-Phyto, short for “electronic phytosanitary certificate”, is a universal approach that promises improved crisis resilience, consistency, security, fraud prevention, sustainability and replacement of tedious paper documentation.

Already, some countries are making headway.

In July, Argentina and the United States began using ePhyto certificates for the export and import of all products and by-products of plant origin. This adds the US to Argentina’s list of partner countries with whom it has been exchanging ePhyto certificates. Already, it has been conducting the same with Chile earlier in the year, benefiting from the international trade of regulated goods in an “easy, transparent, reliable, digital and paperless way.”

How does it work in practice? Under the ePhyto system, digital certificates go through a secure system to the “Hub” (IPPC’s central system of exchange of certificates) which transfers this certificate to the “mailbox” from the importing country in the Hub, where it can be retrieved by the NPPO of the importing country.

The Hub requires that all countries participating in the e-Phyto certificate exchange use the same standard forms for the transmission and retrieval of electronic certificates. This greatly simplifies the process by eliminating the need for multiple bilateral access agreements.

In Morocco, a project developed jointly by government and business aims to cut the time and cost of trading agri-food products by automating and digitizing processes. One of the solutions to be applied is ePhyto.

How will it improve current practice? Today, traders importing or exporting plants or plant products must acquire a paper phytosanitary certificate to show that the material is considered free from pests and compliant with plant health regulations. In Morocco, as in most countries, these paper certificates accompany the shipment or are exchanged by post with trading partners. This makes for a lengthy process, where any errors take a long time to correct, and where risk of loss, damage or fraud is commonplace.

According to the project website, “the use of ePhyto will:

· mean certificates are transferred between parties quickly, accurately and at low cost, reducing the time and cost burden on both traders and border agencies

· reduce the risk of loss or fraud, helping ensure any threats to plant health through trade are stopped in their tracks

· pave the way for Morocco to exchange other types of data with trading partners”

How can you get involved?

Today there are some 80 countries registered in the system. ISF is optimistic about ePhyto’s adoption in more countries and will continue to follow its development.

A series of case studies is being undertaken by the industry through the IAG — IPPC ePhyto to analyze the commercial, custom, and regulatory implications of implementing the ePhyto Solution. Results from the case studies will be used to continue improving the functioning of the system and to provide expert guidance as trade moves forward with paperless execution.

If you are a seed importer-exporter who wants to participate in the case study, you may get in touch with ISF through its Seed Health Manager Rose Souza Richards r.souzarichards@worldseed.org.

In addition, ISF encourages its members — the national seed associations — to initiate dialogue with their NPPO and government to support the adoption of ePhyto in their country with the aim of achieving safer, faster and more cost-efficient trade of agriculture products including seed.