Mar 29, 2016

Sakata, Indonesia Sign Development Agreement

Sakata Seed Corporation and the Indonesian government have formally agreed on the utilization of indigenous genetic resources for the further development of SunPatiens.

This agreement is based on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). There are only a few cases known in the world of such an agreement based on CBD in the category of horticultural plants, made between a resource-rich country and a commercial seed company.

SunPatiens offered by Sakata Seed Corporation, is an assortment of garden flowers that was developed in line with the principles of CBD, in collaboration with the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD) for access to its native resources. SunPatiens uses the breeding material of Indonesia’s native species of Impatiens.

In the early 2000s, IAARD and Sakata made a basic agreement for the utilization of this native species and Sakata has been conducting research and development ever since. Starting with this basic agreement, Sakata has been using Indonesian collection of genetic resources of Impatiens by applying material transfer agreement following CBD convention.

SunPatiens was commercially launched in 2006, and has grown to be recognized worldwide as one of the best performing flowering annuals in its category, especially in Japan, Europe and North and South America. Part of the revenue generated from sales of the product is being allocated based on the agreement for Access and Benefit-Sharing for utilization of genetic resources (ABS agreement). Sakata pays a share of the SunPatiens royalty proceeds to the Indonesian government and, in addition, performs technology transfer as a non-monetary benefit sharing.

In 2014, the two parties updated the collaboration and implemented an innovative joint research project based on the new national measures. In 2016, both parties will continue to collaborate and will proceed with joint research of Indonesia and Sakata that will further contribute to the development of even better cooperative structures for the utilization of genetic resources and the conservation and utilization of biological diversity as an irreplaceable heritage of humankind.

In the next five years Sakata will provide breeding support to the Indonesian Ornamental Crops Research Institute (IOCRI). In addition to having breeders give lectures on breeding technology to IOCRI, the two parties are planning to conduct joint collection, evaluation and selection for the genetic resources in Indonesia. The company possesses preferential rights for commercialization of the new superior varieties which IOCRI obtains from Sakata’s support, the company said.