How Ghana stands to gain if Plant Breeders’ Bill is passed
The goal of a strong agricultural sector cannot be achieved without a robust research environment. Innovation, especially in agriculture, is a source of economic growth and development for the rural sector and also a major source of new employment.
A dynamic and sustainable agriculture depends on scientific progress and the application of science to crop development through plant breeding to suit society’s needs. Plant breeding seeks to develop crops that are high yielding, resistant to pests, of high nutritional value, tolerant to mineral and environmental stresses and adapted to mechanisation, among others.
It was concluded at the September 2009 second World Seed Conference that if agriculture is to meet the challenge of food security amidst population growth and climate change, government measures and increased public and private investment in the seed sector are needed. Specifically, intellectual property (IP) protection was deemed to be crucial to any sustainable contribution of plant breeding and seed supply.
An effective plant variety protection (PVP) system which confers IP rights, known as Plant Breeders Rights (PBR), was identified as a key enabler for investment in breeding and the development of new varieties of plants. PVP is covered under the guidelines provided by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).
Just as how business owners are granted exclusive rights on the use of their trademarks, and creative artistes granted copyrights on musical, literary, dramatic and artistic works of their creations, the Plant Breeders’ Bill seeks to protect innovations of plant breeders through IP rights. Ghana’s Plant Breeders’ Bill does not seek to promote genetically modified organisms (GMOs) but to provide an incentive to plant breeders or their institutions for the development of new varieties of crops.
The development of a new variety requires expertise and investment in terms of technology, infrastructure, financial and human resources. It may take 15 years to develop a new variety with improved features and an additional number of years for it to be introduced into the market and taken up by farmers. On the other hand, it is easy to reproduce (copy) a variety and possibly compete with the breeder on the commercial seed market. This would be detrimental to any breeding programme, as the investor will not be able to recoup the cost involved in breeding, affecting future breeding activities. Farmers suffer most from the lack of sustained breeding programmes, as there will be few varieties of crop plants to choose from.
The resulting effect will be low productivity posing a threat to food security. It is, thus, vital to encourage creativity and investment in private and public breeding through an effective PVP system, which provides breeders with a legal framework and administrative structure for controlling reproduction of their varieties, enabling them to recover their investments.
Legal protection
Without the legal protection of rights, breeders can lose control of the commercialisation of new varieties to persons who do not contribute towards the breeding costs. Ghana’s Plant Breeders’ Bill include farmers’ privilege which allows them to save seeds of a protected variety for the sole purpose of replanting their own land. Subsistence farmers are also not subject to the plant breeders’ right to enable them to escape the cycle of poverty.
An effective PVP system will increase the scope of domestic and international markets by removing barriers to trade in varieties, enabling farmers to capture value in the production chain. Domestic breeders also gain access to valuable varieties for use in their breeding programmes, creating a means of technology transfer and effective utilisation of genetic resources.
The development of new varieties stands for dynamism, modernity and permanent innovation. If we wish to remain competitive in a global system, then we must ensure that these features become a permanent part of the Ghanaian agricultural sector. Effects of climate change are seen on daily basis, and unless steps are taken to incentivise public and private participation in plant breeding, food security will be adversely affected.
Low yields as a result of climate change (drought, flooding and heat shocks) and the appearance of new insect pests and diseases are becoming a problem. In order to tackle these possible scenarios, we will require specific research, development and innovative strategies focusing on crop selection and the development of varieties that are better adapted to the new conditions.
The development of new varieties will doubtless be inhibited if breeders, the group committed to research into new varieties, are not compensated for their efforts. Ghana has achieved significant success in its breeding programmes over the years, and failure on the part of Parliament to pass the Plant Breeders’ Bill to protect the varieties developed will be a great economic loss to the country.
The writer is with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology( KNUST), Kumasi.