Accra, June 15, GNA – Dr Akoto Afriyie, Minister for Agriculture has called for a regulatory framework that would promote and provide incentives for researchers, scientists and individuals that would come out with new varieties for other users for commercial purposes.
He said new varieties of plants were crucial means of delivering new technologies to farmers and growers, which ultimately offered benefits to consumers and farmers such as reduced cost of high quality food and efficient land use among many others.
In a speech read on his behalf at a National Seminar on the Arusha Protocol for the Protection of new varieties of plants in Accra, Dr Afriyie noted that governments worldwide were under pressure, in the face of current global challenges, to ensure sustainable food security and economic development for citizens.
The Seminar is being organised by the Register General’s Department for Parliamentarians, academia, researchers, scientists and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector to deepen understanding on the Protocol and also facilitate the passage of the Plant Breeders’ Bill in Ghana.
Dr Afriyie said the demand for improved seed in Ghana continued to grow and the formal and informal sectors must form alliances that would serve the needs of the country, adding, there is the need to have policies that encourages synergies in agricultural development at the national level.
“It is well known that among the major challenges facing the agricultural sector in many African countries including Ghana is the lack of seeds of improved crop varieties which is among the major factors contributing to low crop production.
“It is in the light of the challenges facing our gallant farmers who feed the nation, that we must develop and diffuse innovative and climate-proof solutions, such as seeds of improved varieties that are more tolerant to rainfall varying patterns, drought and floods, to facilitate the growth of small and large commercial farming enterprises,” he added.
The Minister noted that though the Crop Research Institute and other mandated government institutions continued to breed new improved seeds, there were no protection system in place and the new varieties were appropriated by other countries and businesses for free without recognising the efforts and investment put in by the breeders.
“Therefore a system of protection is needed in order to allow breeders to recover their investment. It is important to indicate that there can be no sustainable agriculture without innovation. The intellectual property protection model proposed under the Plant breeders Bill at the national level is in harmony with the needs and expectations of the agricultural sector,” he added.
“We all know that seed is the most important agricultural input, and in most cases, quality seed gives the highest return on investment on crop inputs that any investor, producer, or farmer, including small holder farmers who are the majority of our farmers, may purchase.
“Availability of quality seeds starts with development of good varieties of plants, a process that takes time and resources to achieve,” he said.
In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister for Justice, Ms Gloria Akuffo, wondered why the hardworking farmer, plant breeder or the housewife, who has taken years, effort and resources to breed a new variety of a crop or plant that never existed for the benefit of the society is being denied the right of intellectual property rights protection regime.
“Why is it that persons who breed new varieties of plant and feed the nation should not have intellectual property rights over their creations they have developed through years of hard work and effort? The emphasis is on the protection for new plant varieties not existing varieties which farmers are using already,” she added.
Mr Emmanuel Sackey, Intellectual Development Executive of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO said, evidence pointed to the fact that countries with weaker protection of intellectual property regimes provided no incentive to their people to create or innovate nor attract new technological investments.
“It is in this vein that ARIPO should be seen as playing an important role as it provides a platform on which the member states can harness all the benefits of collaboration such as building synergies, development of common positions and services, capacity building and transformation of our countries into knowledge-based economies with sound protection of intellectual property rights,” he added.
The ARIPO Protocol on new Plant Varieties seeks to encourage transfer of new technology to plant breeders in ARIPO region.
GNA
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