b'WORLD STATUSIron-coated soybean seed has become a thing in Korea while seed availability of major crops remains a serious challenge for Syrias smallholder farmers.KOREA a 15-hectare plot in Goesan County,germinated. Three months after the SOYBEAN SEEDS COATED with iron,South Chungcheong Province inseeds were planted, the germination which has a smell that is offensiveMarch on a trial basis. The surfacerate of the iron-coated soybean seeds to birds, turned out to have a higherof the soybean seeds was coatedturned out to be 95%, about twice as germination rate, drawing attentionwith iron by inserting an appropri- high as that of soybean seeds which as a new bird repelling solution forate amount of soybean seed, iron,were sowed in a general manner.farm use. According to the Goesanadhesive, and calcined gypsum into aWe will promote the distribution Agricultural Technology Center, iron- mixer. The aim was to prevent birdsof this new farming technique to coated soybean seeds were sowed infrom eating the seeds before theycontribute to improving the produc-tivity of soybean-producing farms, officials say. SYRIASEED AVAILABILITY of major crops has been a serious challenge for Syrian smallholder farmers in the past 10 years due to the damage to the agri-cultural system caused by the con-flict. Prior to the crisis, the General Organization for Seed Multiplication (GOSM) was responsible for the provision of up to 300,000 tonnes of certified wheat seed a year to farm-ers across the country. Today, GOSM is capable of providing only around 50,000 tonnes of seed. This is enough to meet the planting demands for only 15% of the 1.8 million hectares of land planned for wheat cultivation. The remainder will come from farm-ers own saved seed or from seeds from unknown sources in the local market. An assessment of findings included: Although GOSM is an important source for accredited wheat seed, the farmers obtained half of their seed from other sources to supplement what they received from GOSM. Local informal markets are an important source of seed for nearly every major crop. 20% of farmers are sowing less seed than they normally would because they cannot afford seed or other inputs. Seed is a significant cost for farmers, the estimation of their total expenditure on seed is between one-sixth (rain-fed) to one-third (irri-gated) in total, which is spent in local informal markets. 46GERMINATION.CASEPTEMBER 2020'