ANALYSIS OF THE SEED PRODUCTION AND CERTIFICATION SYSTEM IN MEXICO

A seed system is the combination of components, processes and their organization for the production and marketing of this input for planting one or more species. Due to the importance of the implementation of the Law on Production, Certification and Trade of Seeds and the Federal Plant Varieties Law (FPVL), in this study the evolution of the production of certified seeds was analyzed in order to identify the relationship with the changes in the legal framework regarding seeds. The database of the certified seed production program published by the National Seed Inspection and Certification Service for the period 1988-2013 was analyzed. It was found that from the 1980s there was a decrease in the production of certified seeds as a result of a reduction in public sector participation and the start of the private sector engagement. For the 1990s, changes occurred with a decrease in the area of 144,219 ha and production of 332,500 t, all in the context of the integration of Mexico as a member of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and the publication of the FPVL. The production of certified seeds showed an increase from the year 2000 in both area and volume. According to the data published in the National Catalog of Plant Varieties and in the Official Gazette of Breeders' Rights, the private sector has greater participation in the registration of varieties of common use and with breeder's rights. Mexico has sufficient regulation in terms of seed production, certification and trade and in the protection of breeder's rights, as well as a diversified system in which the public, social and private sectors concur; however, concentration was observed both in registrants and in crops with certified seed production.