DEAS 1035 : 2020  
ICS nn.nnn.nn  
 
© EAC 2020                                                                                                                               First Edition 2020   
 EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Banana  seeds  — Requirements for certification   
 DEAS 1035 : 2020  
ii © EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.  
Violators may be prosecuted . DEAS 1035 : 2020  
© EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Contents  Page 
Foreword  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  iv 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  1 
4 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  2 
4.1 Eligible varieties  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .... 2 
4.2 Application for certification  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................  2 
4.3 Field inspection  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 3 
4.4 Specific field requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................  3 
4.4.1  Clones  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .....................  4 
5 Clone specifications  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..............................  4 
4.3 Land requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................  4 
4.4 Rotation  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................  4 
4.5 Spacing  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...................  4 
5 Certificates  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .............  4 
6 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............  4 
7 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .................  5 
10 Methods of sampling and testing  ................................ ............................ Error! Bookmark not defined.  
Annex  A (normative)  Scope of application of standard  ................................ ....Error! Bookmark not defined.  
Annex  B (informative)  Seed crop declaration form  ................................ ........... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
Annex C  (Normativ e)  Seed test certificate  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 6 
Bibliography  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................  7 
 DEAS 1035 : 2020  
iv © EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been necessitated by the need for harmonizing requirements 
governing quality of products and services in the East African Community. It is envisaged that through 
harmonized standardization, trade barriers that are encountered when goods and services are exchanged 
within the Community will be removed.  
The Community has established an East African Standards Committee  (EASC)  mandated to develop and 
issue East African Standards  (EAS) . The Committee is composed of representatives of the National 
Standards Bodies in Partner States, together with the representatives from th e public and private sector 
organizations  in the community .  
East African Standards are developed through  Technical Committees that are representative of key 
stakeholders including government, academia, consumer groups, private sector and other interested parties. 
Draft East African Standards are circulated to stakeholders through the National Standards Bodies in the 
Partner States. The comments received are discussed and incorporated before finalization of standards, in 
accordance with the Principles and p rocedures for development of East African Standards. XXXXXX.  
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East 
African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the latest versi ons of the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible  for this document is Technical Committee EASC /TC 012, Seed and propagation 
materials . 
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be subject of patent 
rights. EAC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN S TANDARD  DEAS 1035 : 2020  
 
© EAC 2020 – All rights reserved  1 
 Banana  seeds  — Requirements for certification  
1 Scope   
This Working Draft East African  Standard specifies the requirements for certification for banana ( Musa 
paradisiaca  L) seeds . It applies tissue culture, macro -propagation and conventionally produced planting materials‖  
2 Normative references   
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes 
requi rements of this document.  For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
3 Terms and definitions   
For the purposes of this standard, the terms and definitions given in UPOV  apply.  
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:  
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp  
 
3.1  
previ ous cropping  
minimum number of growing seasons that elapse between the production of a crop of the same species in a  
field and the production of a crop entered in the certification scheme in the same field  
3.2  
isolation  
minimum distance between a field of  vegetable seeds and any other vegetable seed of the same species that  
is required to prevent contamination  
3.3  
seed producer  
person or entity registered to produce seed  
3.4  
inspector  
official belonging to a quality control department responsible for per forming field control and sampling of seeds  
3.5  
label  
tag or other device that is attached to seeds or that accompanies any lot of bulk seed and which describes the  
kind of seed and any other required information   
2 © EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  
 3.6  
previous cropping  
minimum number of g rowing seasons that elapses between the production of a crop of the same species in a  
field and the production of a crop entered in the certification scheme in the same field  
3.7  
seed certification agency  
recognized agency responsible for the certificatio n of seed  
3.8  
off-type 
plant of the same species which does not exhibit the recognised and accepted habit and characteristics of the  
variety being grown  
3.9  
variety registration  
recording of a new variety in a national variety catalogue /national variety list when it has been tested and 
satisfied the  requirements for distinctness, uniformity, stability, and has value for cultivation and use  
3.10  
roguing  
removal of off -types and diseased plants or any other unwanted plant from a seed crop if they may reduc e the  
quality of the harvested seed  
3.12 
seed certification  
quality assurance system whereby seed is subjected to official control and inspection  
3.13  
seed lot  
defined quantity/number of banana  seed bearing the same reference number and for which the orig in, 
production history and identity is known  
3.14  
stability  
condition of a variety distinguishing characteristics to remain unchanged after repeated growing cycles  
4 Requirements  
4.1 Eligible varieties  
4.1.1  Varieties eligible for seed certification shall  be those that have been registered in the national list of 
varieties/national variety catalogue.  
4.1.2  Each national seed certification authority shall keep the official descriptor of the varieties it has 
registered in hard and electronic copies and thes e shall be made available within EAC on request . 
4.2 Application for certification  
4.2.1  The minimum information for an application for certification of a seed crop shall include the following:  
a) name, address and contact details of the seed grower;  
b) crop and  variety to be sown;  
c) physical location;   
© EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  3 
 d) area and reference number of the field, and its cropping history for the past two cropping seasons;  
e) class of seed to be produced; and  
f) registration number of the seed grower.  
4.2.2  Information and records related to t he previous cropping history, origin of seed planted, and field 
inspections shall be kept and used for certification to ensure full traceability of quality, genetic identity and 
purity of the seed harvested.  
4.3 Field inspection  
4.3.1 Starting material fo r each category shall be from certified planting materials and the producer shall 
keep all records for the traceability of the origin of the starting materials  
4.3.2 All the categories (tissue culture plantlets (basic seed), macro -propagation and conventio nal 
suckers) of banana planting materials shall be inspected and certified by the national certification 
agency before their distribution  
4.3.4  For conventional suckers two inspections in field are necessary – at 3-4 months after planting and 
when plants h ave bunches (near to be harvested). This is for field producers having seed fields and for 
selective random inspection for clients who bought plantlets from tissue culture and have planted them in the 
field – to check the proportion of off -types and wrong varieties for quality control of tissue culture plants from a 
private seed supplier (tissue culture lab).  
4.3.4  For macro -propagation and tissue culture, one visit of plants in nurseries is needed by inspection to  
check on general plant vigour/diseases . 
4.3.5  The inspector shall inspect the crop in accordance with the banana international protocols and 
guidelines.  
4.3.6   The cultural condition of the conventional field and the stage of development of the crop shall be 
such as to permit varietal identity an d varietal purity and health status to be adequately checked . 
4.4 Specific field requirements  
Field  for the production of banana  seeds shall comply with minimum requirements as specified in Table 1.  
Add the following new provisions  
 
 Table 1 : Field require ment for banana planting materials  
S/N Variables   
 Standard for each class  
Macro -propagation  Tissue culture 
(basic/Foundation  Conventional 
suckers 
(Certified)  
i Pure living clones 
(minimum) True type 
variety  98 95 % (by number)  98.0 % (by 
number)  
iii Seed bo rn diseases (to 
be specified)  Absent  Absent  Absent  
  
4 © EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  
 4.4.1 Clones  
4.4.1.1 Foundation clones being a group of common ancestry shall be genetically pure in absolute terms. 
Off-types should be discarded under the supervision of  National recognized C ertification Authority  Certification 
Agency.  
4.4.1.2 The plants should be free from bunchy top, nematode, and Panama disease, banana bacterial 
wilt, banana streak virus black, Cigar end rot and black sigatoka, Banana Xanthomonas Wilt .  
5 Clone specificatio ns  
5.1 The diameter of the banana seed sucker shall be of range from 5.0 – 10.0 cm.  
5.2 The clone lot shall have maximum size of 5.0 % (by number)  
4.3 Land requirements  
Land intended for banana  seed production shall be prepared t imely and in such  away t hat a clean level 
seedbed is obtained. Seed fiel ds for banana  seed crops shall be prevented from contamination and build up of 
soil-borne diseases from the same kind of crops grown in the previous seasons unless the seeds crops grown 
in the previous season  was a certified seed of varietal purity.  
4.4 Rotation  
If the field is located in the area or region known to be contaminated with fusarium wilt and banana bacterial 
wild, banana bunch top, banana streak viruses, this field is suspected and shall not be us ed for the production 
of planting materials . 
4.5 Spacing  
The spacing between banana seed plants in clone propagation plots shall have a minimum spacing of 1.5  m 
and between row 1.5 m.  
5 Certificates  
5.1 Banana seeds lot shall have required certificates inc luding certificate of origin, phyto -sanitary certificate 
and inspection  certificate  
5.2 For locally produced seed, the  inspection  certificate shall be issued upon compliance with field and 
laboratory  requirements  
5.3 Inspection certificate shall be valid f or a period of six months.  
5.4 After the expiring of the validity of the certificate the seeds shall be re-inspected  for diseases . If the test 
result complies with the minimum standards, a new inspection  certificate shall be issued for  the seed lot, 
which cancels the previously issued certificate, and shall include the certificate number of the  cancelled  
inspection . 
5.5 The test certificate shall indicate at least the result of the purity and germination test and date of the 
inspection . 
6 Packaging  
6.1 Bana na seeds shall be packaged in containers that preserve the quality of the seeds .  
© EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  5 
 7 Labelling  
Banana  seeds shall be labelled with the following information:  
a) species indicated at least in its botanical name ; 
b) variety ; 
c) class ; 
d) date of test of the last official testing for the purposes of certification ; 
e) reference number of lot ; 
f) country of production ; 
g) declared net or gross weight or declared number of seeds ; 
h) chemical used for seed dressing where applicable ; and 
i) the words ‖retested― where at least disease has been re-tested (month and year) may be indicated.  
  
6 © EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  
 Annex A  
(Normative)  
 
Seed test certificate  
This certificate is issued for a seed lot which has satisfied all the requirements of the certification scheme  
Previously issued certificate number..............  Certificate No. ………….  Standard: .................  
APPLICANT INFORMATION  
Seed lot reference  number  Species and  variety  Class  Weight of lot  Number of  
containers  
     
Name of testing laboratory:  Test number:  
ANALYSIS RESULTS  
Purity  Germination  Moisture  
content, % Pure 
seed , 
% Inert 
matter , 
% Other  
crop 
seeds , 
% Weed  
seeds  
per kg  Normal  
seedlings  Abnormal  
seedlings  Fresh  
seeds  Hard  
seeds  Dead  
seeds  
          
Kind of inert matter:  
Kind of other crop seeds:  
Kind of weed seeds:  
Other determinations  Statemen t of packaging and re -labelling: (if  
applicable)  
 
 
National Seed Certification Authority  
Signature …………………………………………………………………  
Place and date ………………………………………………………… ..  
© EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  7 
 Bibliography  
RS 275 -2: 2015 , Seeds — Requirements for certification — Part 2: Rice  
 WD/TC/018/006 : 2020    
 
© EAC 2020 – All rights reserved