Project title: Establishing an independent Variety Testing Service in Myanmar
Project number: SMP-19070
Requesting country: Myanmar
Year: 2019
Budget: € 40,000
Project leader: Flip van Koesveld
Knowledge institute: Wageningen University & Research
Project partners: Resilience BV, Fresh Studio Myanmar

Summary
The Myanmar government has made major regulatory reforms for the seed sector in order to attract more investments. Changes include a reduction in the number of seed business licenses (to only three for field crops, horticulture crops and industrial crops), a decrease in the number of crops that require compulsory VCU testing, 100% foreign ownership for seed companies is allowed, a plant variety protection office is being established, as well as a one-stop-shop for all regulatory services.

A number of Dutch-affiliated companies are increasingly interested in starting or expanding their business in Myanmar. Companies include: Bejo, East West Seeds, Enza, RijkZwaan and Syngenta Vegetable Seeds. A number of them have already registered their varieties while others are in the process of doing so. All of them experience the registration process as cumbersome and one of the major hurdles of becoming more active in the Myanmar vegetable seed market. In recent discussions with them the plan was put forward to collaborate on these issues and organize the registration process together, through a third party. The latter is made possible by Myanmar Law, which allows for testing varieties on private farms or farmer fields. In addition, the companies would like to explore other activities like pre-screening trials, research trials, and demonstration trials.

Presentation