Quality seeds have emerged as a key factor in strengthening the agriculture and food industry, not only because the entire production cycle literally starts with it, but also because it determines plant performance and yield that affect the price competitiveness of aggie and food products and their affordability to consumers.

This assessment came from the foundation for Resource Linkage and Development (FRLD), a non-government organization in the agriculture industry.

FRLD president Antonio V. Roces said, though, that the role of high-yielding, quality seeds in agricultural productivity had often been overlooked and sometimes ignored. Citing corn as an example, Roces said the importance of quality seeds could contribute even to the cost-efficiency of transporting the grains.

Results of various studies point to the use of sacks as a major culprit for the rise in corn prices. At various points of the supply chain, the grains have to be put into and taken out of the sacks from the farm to the corn mill, to the trucks and to the shipping vessel, and to the trucks again or to the barges all the way to the feed mills.

Yet, the cost of this laborious and tedious process can be reduced substantially through the use of silos, instead of sacks, in corn handling, transport and shipment.

However, the use of silos is feasible only if there is uniformity in quality, regularity in the shipment, and the required volume of the corn to be shipped.

"It is here where corn variety plays a very crucial role, not only in quality, but also in quantity, to make corn production profitable for the farmers and affordable to the end-users. It all boils down to quality seeds, and the same can be true to other agri-business products," Roces said.

However, there are very few firms engaged in developing quality and high-yielding seeds since this business is technology and research intensive.

One of such firms is East-West Seed Company Inc., the pioneer integrated vegetable seed company in the Philippines.

Established in 1982, East-West started as a dream to apply European-style seedmanship to create better seed varieties for farmers in tropical Asia. Intensive plant breeding programs started in the Philippines and then expanded to Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.

"Hybrid bitter gourds and other tropical cucurbits became the benchmark of our sustainable business development," said chief executive officer Simon N. Groot.

"We use applied plant breeding techniques to develop varieties with advanced characteristics, more tolerant to pests and diseases, and perform well under Philippine climate, even under stressful conditions," Groot said.

To help boost the country’s agricultural productivity, cost-efficiency and competitiveness, East-West will exhibit its products and technologies at the Agrilink/Foodlink 2005 slated at the World Trade Center Manila on Oct. 6-8.

East-West has joined the more than 20 industry associations and their members in a concerted effort to strengthen the supply chain through Agrilink and Foodlink, the country’s biggest and most prestigious annual international trade show on agri-business and food.

Inquiries and/or reservations can be made with FRLD (tel. 8384549, 8384852; fax 8384573, or e-mail frld@pldtdsl.net, or website www.frld.org/agrilink).

Agrilink and Foodlink are also geared to generate business opportunities, retail sales, booked orders, marketing tie-ups, joint ventures, and other lucrative transactions between the exhibitors and the hordes of local and foreign visitors and trade buyers.