evolving landscape of plant breeders’ rights regarding wheat varieties in South Africa

Abstract

Addressing the multiple challenges facing global agriculture requires integrated innovation in areas such as seeds, biotechnology, crop protection, grain storage and transport. Innovations related to plant improvement and the development of new or improved plant varieties will only happen at an optimal level if plant breeders’ rights (PBR) are properly protected. The objective was to analyse the evolving landscape of wheat plant breeders’ rights to address the dearth of empirical evidence of the patterns and trends of wheat varietal improvements in South Africa. We compiled a detailed and novel count and attribute database of wheat varietal innovations in South Africa from 1979 to 2013 using various sources. This data set was then analysed to ascertain the main trends in, and ownership of PBRs for wheat varietal improvements in South Africa over this period. A total of 134 PBR wheat varietal innovations were lodged from 1979 to 2013, an average of 6 applications per year. The administrative delays in granting PBR applications were substantially reduced by 77 days during the post-deregulation period (after 1996), indicating increased efficiency. The main PBR applicants were Sensako (39%), the Agricultural Research Council Small Grains Institute (ARC-SGI) (25%) and Pannar (15%). The ARC-SGI contributed to some of the PBRs owned by private companies through shared genetic resources before Plant Variety Protection (PVP) was implemented. Future innovations and dissemination of wheat innovations can be stimulated by plant variety protection, together with broader variety sector legislation that encourages both public and private sector investment.

role of plant breeders’ rights in an evolving peach and nectarine fresh fruit sector

“…The two studies analysed similarities and differences in the individual countries' evolution of plant variety protection policies; enforcement and costs of plant variety protection; production of new varieties; and market competition. A study by Nhemachena et al 1 in South Africa focused on assessing the sources of IPRs and determining their impact on plant protection variety registration.…”

“…According to Nhemachena et al 1 , integrated innovations in areas such as seeds, biotechnology, crop protection, grain storage and transport are critical in improving global agricultural productivity. Seed development, in particular, has been hailed as one area of great importance as the seed contains the genetic code which sets the potential frontline of the production quantity and quality of an agricultural industry.…”

“…Various reports in developing countries have shown that plant variety legislation has contributed to higher foreign direct investment; increased genetic diversity; increased production of varieties which produce higher yields with a better quality agricultural output which have improved food security; and facilitated the provision of varieties which promote the use of sustainable farming practices. 1 These reports imply significantly large economic benefits. In contrast, other findings show that the presence of PBRs has deterred seed development and hindered the economic participation of small-scale farmers in developing countries and has, overall, left the developing community worse off.…”

The Effects of Plant Breeders’ Rights on Wheat Productivity and Varietal Improvement in South African Agriculture

“…The dependent variables were the log of wheat yields and the number of wheat varieties released each year. The independent variables included data on plant breeders rights for wheat compiled as part of this research [29], and the IPR Index developed by Campi and Nuvolari [30].…”

Yield and leaf nutrient concentrations of common bean genotypes as influenced by aluminium toxicity under acidic soils

“…The average yields of common bean in Africa are very low with only 650 kg ha -1 [23]. The poor yields are partly due to poor soil fertility and productivity caused by acidic soils, which have low nutrient contents including Ca 2+ [18] and Mo [17] and lack of compatible Rhizobium in the soil for adequate N2 fixation. To date, there is dearth of information on the effect of soil acidity on yield and nutrient uptake of plants in the country in general and common bean in particular.…”