Chilean Seed Industry

Chile is a long, narrow country located in the southwestern corner of South America. Because of its length and geography, Chile has significant variation in agro-climatic conditions that create three well-defined geographic and climatic zones: 1) North, with a hot and dry climate, 2) Central, mediterranean climate with mild, wet winters and long, dry summers, and 3) South, with a maritime climate, colder and humid, with rainfall throughout the year, primarily in the fall and winter. This diversity in agro-climatic conditions, along with the excellent technology of Chilean producers and a supportive legislature addressing the needs of the domestic seed industry, have made Chile the most important seed export country in the Southern Hemisphere. Additional advantages of Chile for producing high quality seeds are the counter-season production in relation to the Northern Hemisphere, low incidence of phytosanitary problems, and The Andes mountain chain which serves as an economic and natural source of water for gravitational irrigation.

During 2006, Chilean seed exports had a value close to US $200 million. During 2006/2007, the area of production was estimated to be 42,400 ha and is expected to increase to 50,000 ha during 2007/2008. This area is composed of approximately 3,700 seed producing entities distributed throughout the country. Most seed production is concentrated in the Central Zone, with vegetable and flower seed crops being produced primarily in the north and maize and sunflower seeds being produced in the south. Certain types of seed crops, such as forage species, are produced primarily in the south. Maize is the most important seed crop with approximately 20,000 ha of production (2006/2007) creating an export value close to US $100 million. Next in importance are vegetables, with a seed export value of US $67.2 million, followed by flowers (US $12.3 million) and sunflowers(US $7.2 million).

Despite the significant growth experienced during the last decade, the Chilean Seed Industry faces new challenges such as a poor exchange rate for the dollar, augmented production costs, and an increasing number of other competitive seed producing countries. Approaches to keep and improve the competitiveness and reputation of Chile as an important exporting country of high quality seeds are to: i) increase production efficiency, i.e. to produce more high quality seed at lower cost, ii) encourage a concerted and focused action of national seed producers organized by ANPROS and thereby increasing investments in new technologies and identifying new markets, and iii) encourage a greater interaction of different companies, government, and research institutions for the seed industry in order to solve technical and legal challenges related to the improvement of the Chilean seed industry.

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