Iran Receives ISTA’s Accreditation to Issue Int’l Seed Certificates

Iran’s Seed and Plant Certification and Registration Institute has succeeded in attaining the International Seed Testing Association’s accreditation to issue international seed certificates, says the head of the institute.
“This has come about after years of research and passing international exams. Today Iran is ISTA’s 64th accredited member,” Mohammad Hassan Assareh was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official added that other accredited countries in the region are Russia, Pakistan and Turkey.
“Among the benefits of being accredited by ISTA is the ease of seed trade in the global markets for Iranian producers. Being able to issue international seed certificates in SPCRI’s laboratory reduces the costs and time Iranian businesspeople previously had to spend on receiving the certificates from abroad. Moreover, from now on, other regional countries can come to us to receive seed certificates, which will bring profit,” he said.
According to Assareh, Iran is self-sufficient in producing wheat and barley seeds and provides some 90% and 80% of its domestic demand for forage crops and pulses respectively, adding that a large part of oilseeds, excluding soybeans, are also produced locally.
“We are self-sufficient in producing seeds for traditional vegetable cultivation, but a large portion of our seeds for hybrid and greenhouse products are imported,” he said.
Iran’s Seed and Plant Certification and Registration Institute, affiliated with Agriculture Ministry, is an ISTA member since the fiscal 2003-4.
ISTA’s accreditation verifies whether a laboratory is technically competent to carry out seed testing procedures in accordance with the ISTA International Rules of Seed Testing.
Accredited laboratories must run a quality assurance system, fulfilling the requirements of the ISTA Accreditation Standard, the association writes on its website.
Iran has been accredited to perform sampling and purity of other seeds, germination and moisture content determination tests, Seedtest.org also reads.