17 Mar 2016

The director of Agriculture Research Dr Pharaoh Mosupi says the African Regional Intellectual Property (ARIPO) develops capacity in the area of protection of plant varieties, Geographical Indications (GI) and traditional knowledge.

Speaking at the ARIPO seminar on Protection and Utilisation of New Varieties of Plants, Geographical Indications, Traditional Knowledge and Handicraft for Economic Development, Dr Mosupi said the event would explore how the long tradition and rich variety of food products originating in member countries can be protected.

He said the protection of plants is an aspect of intellectual property rights that seek to acknowledge the achievement of breeders of new plants and plant varieties by giving them exclusive rights to their new plant varieties for a limited period of time.

He said the protection of such new plant varieties has the potential to develop the seed industry and improve food security as farmers will be able to use seeds that bring greater crop yields.

“My ministry has developed a draft bill for the Protection of New Plant Varieties Bill of 2012 and the objective of the bill is to put in place a system of protection of plant breeders based on the 1991 Act of the Convention on the Protection of New Variety of Plants,” he said.

In addition, Dr Mosupi said the use of the system is important as plant breeders are encouraged to continue contributing to the development and production of plants that are disease and drought resistant which will be beneficial to farmers.

He said Geographical Indications is another area of intellectual property that has the potential to offer benefits to agricultural producers in that it protects products on the basis of the location which they come from because they have unique factors attributed to such a location. Ends