Domestic companies have successfully developed commercial jets and military aircraft carriers but are still lagging far behind international suppliers of vegetable seeds, reports Economic Information Daily. Control of agricultural production has, therefore, fallen into the hands of foreign companies.
Despite delivering high quality varieties, international dominance of the seed market puts seed supply, and therefore food security, beyond state control, say a number of stakeholders cited in the piece. Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) estimates China's seed market size at C¥60 bn annually.
The article highlights a number of factors constraining domestic seed industry, namely
- lack of independent innovation capacity
- less than three percent of sales revenue is invested into seed R&D
- less than 30 percent of seed companies have staff or facilities for R&D
- seed companies in China do not compete on the basis of R&D and are underdeveloped
- gap between state seed research institutes and commercial production companies
- domestic breeding research is out of touch with the market and not focused on practical applications
- weak system to commercialise newly developed varieties
- outdated equipment and infrastructure
- field testing areas, crop demonstration sites, seed breeding basis, and other infrastructure is poor
- seed quality and new variety testing is held back
- seed management agencies are weak
- lack staff and funds to carry out good quality control on domestic seed
According to local sources, at a project in Ningxia, vegetable seed varieties from Japan and South Korea had obvious advantages over domestic ones in yield, quality, pest resistance, germination rate and hardiness during storage and transportation. Li Chunqin 李春琴 Ningxia agriculture and livestock bureau director told reporters that due to these advantages, prices of foreign seeds are significantly higher than domestic ones. Local villagers were vocal in speculating about what the vast number of local and national agricultural research personnel are doing with government funds.
Imported crop varieties are a double edged sword, offering high quality varieties but at a high cost, says Jiang Xuele 蒋学勒 Ningxia agriculture bureau horticulture office director. It also puts China's food production under foreign control, Jiang adds.
Even in Shouguang city, Shandong province, a leading vegetable producing region, foreign seeds dominate the market. Before 2000, most local producers were not aware of foreign vegetable varieties, says Li Ping 李平 Lusheng Agriculture Science and Technology Development Co. general manager. Between 2000 and 2009, these varieties gained traction in Shouguang as Syngenta, Rjik Zwaan, Monsanto and other international seed giants set up demonstration bases in the region.
Fan Liguo 范立国 Shouguang city seed development service director insists domestic vegetable varieties are regaining market share, increasing from 54 percent in 2010 to 65 percent today. Still, he admits, foreign varieties enjoy a strong advantage and dominate 70 to 90 percent market share in certain crop categories including
- spinach
- broccoli
- carrots
- peppers
- red cherry tomatoes
- eggplant