Pursuant to the implementation of the Seed Act, and the need to provide and sustain adequate supply of seeds of the desired quality, the following criteria for accreditation of seed producers are hereby promulgated.

1. That the applicant must be an individual farmer or a member of cooperative/seeds association/farmer organization.

2. That he must have undergone training on seed technology and gained skills and experiences on the basic principles and practices in producing the crop he/she is involved in;

3. For seed association, cooperatives and farmer organizations, the names of each member with their corresponding area planted for seed production must be submitted to seed certifying agency before any accreditation is issued. In cases where new members are accepted by the association, cooperatives and farmer organizations after accreditation, the seed certifying agency must be notified in writing of the new membership including among others the area-planted and the location of their farms;

4. That the seed must be produced in suitable areas, inspected and duly certified by the seed inspector. The suitability of an area shall be determined by the following:

a. sustained irrigation throughout the year;
b. access to seed post harvest equipment and storage facilities;
c. the agro-climate conditions for growing the crop seed must be appropriate.

5. That the minimum actual area for certification of a particular crop (inbred rice, corn, field legume) must be one (1) hectare;

6. The application for seed certification for any crop must indicate seed class to be produced, variety, area to be planted and location of the farm, and shall be filed with Seed Certifying Agency before planting time.

7. That he/she is willing to have the field inspected by the Seed inspector or authorized representative of the DA/BPI Seed Certifying Agency any time before planting throughout the growing period, harvesting including threshing, processing, bagging and storage of the seeds. He/she should also be willing to have his/her seed lot sampled and to allow the seed inspector to draw the required amount of seed samples for laboratory analysis/seed testing of seed quality and certification.

8. Accreditation of seed growers of rice and corn shall be recommended by the Regional Executive Director concerned after the designated Seed Inspector has validated the requirements stated herein and concurred by the Chiefs, NSQCS of the respective region.

9. The Certificate of Accreditation duly approved by the Director of the Bureau of Plant Industry shall be furnished to the applicant and photocopies to the Regional Director and Seed Quality Control Services.

10. Certification of Accreditation shall be valid for a period of 3 years. The performance of the accredited seed producer shall be validated before renewal of accreditation.

Performance shall be based on:

a. Submission of sample for analysis per 4 cropping seasons within the period of 3 years.

b. Seed certification efficiency based on no. of samples passing certification as against total no. of samples submitted for analysis.

All accredited seed growers must have technical updates/re-tooling in seed production on the crops he/his is engaged in from time to time at any station of the Department of Agriculture.

The implementation of this Order shall be fully coordinated by the DA Regional Field Units through the Regional Seed Coordinators, Chiefs of the Seed Quality Control Services and the Seed Inspectors.

Non-compliance with the above requirements shall be a ground for the denial of accreditation or cancellation of existing Certificate.

This order takes effect immediately and supersedes Administrative Order No. 7 Series of 1996.

Adopted: 02 June 2005

(SGD.) ARTHUR C. YAP
Secretary, Department of Agriculture and
Chairman, National Seed Industry Council

Recommending Approval:

(SGD.) CLARITO M. BARRON, CESO IV
Officer-In-Charge, Director