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The Guaranteed Quality of the MIT Seeds Helps the Seed Industry to Create Export Value ─ An Integrated Multi-Service Platform for Seed and Seedling Testing

In order to assist the domestic seed/seedling industry to lay out the global seed and seedling market, the Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station, COA (abbreviated as the TSIPS) has continued to develop the seed/seedling testing technologies and provide related services. An Integrated Multi-Service Platform for Seed and Seedling Testing has launched last year (2022), and now domestic firms can apply services online with more convenience and high efficiency. The created value of the seed exports (mainly Cucurbitaceae, Solanaceae, and Brassicaceae) by the platform is estimated to be approximately 225 million NT dollars.

  The TSIPS states that the Taiwan seed industry has excellent breeding abilities and good varieties. For a long time, our seed and seedling products have been sold worldwide, and Taiwan has been an important player in the global seed and seedling market, with an annual export value of up to 730 million NT dollars. However, the complicated quarantine regulations (such as diseases, pests, genetically modified crops, etc.) of each country have caused non-tariff trade obstacles to the domestic seed and seedling industry in recent years, seriously affecting the export of the seeds/seedlings. How to quickly obtain quarantine certificates becomes an urgent issue needed assistance from government agencies.

  The TSIPS indicates that the testing lab of the TSIPS has been accredited by the Taiwan Accreditation Foundation (abbreviated as TAF) since 2009. The lab provides testing services including specific plant pathogens detection, seed qualities, genetically modified crops detection, etc. In recent years, testing service applications are around a total of 3,500 cases per year. In order to be closer to the needs of the industry and improve service efficiency, the TSIPS started to develop an online service platform ─ the Integrated Multi-service Platform for Seed and Seedling Testing. In 2022, the platform is officially launched to support the seed and seedling industry in Taiwan. The online services now available include ‘Specific Plant Pathogens Testing’, ‘Transgenic Plant Testing’, and ’Testing for ISTA International Seed Lot Certificate’, etc., which make companies can advance to arrange their export schedule.

  As mentioned by the TSIPS, not only the incomparable time saving compared to the paper-based applications in the past, but also providing transparent information of the testing process is achieved by utilizing the platform. Compared with paper-based applications, applicants can save more than half of the time. As the saying goes, “the good cards in hands bring the buckets of gold”. Hurry up to click on the following home page address of the platform (https://seedtesting.tss.gov.tw/Page/Default.aspx), and you can complete the registration within three steps. It will help you to firmly grasp this indispensable good card in the global market competition!

Contact Person TSIPS
Assistant Researcher
Tseng, Yi-Hang
TSIPS
Deputy Director Researcher
Chung, Wen-Chuan
Office Tel. 886-4-25825493 886-4-25825402
E-mail ehang@tss.gov.tw wcchung@tss.gov.tw

The online service applications provided by the Integrated Multi-service Platform for Seed and Seedling Testing
Fig. 1. The online service applications provided by the Integrated Multi-service Platform for Seed and Seedling Testing

The testing services in the platform include the important crops, such as Brassicaceae, Solanaceae, and Cucurbitaceae
Fig. 2. The testing services in the platform include the important crops, such as Brassicaceae, Solanaceae, and Cucurbitaceae