News

Thanks to a workshop organized by CORAF with other technical partners, around 25 seed industry players from English-speaking West African countries will be equipped with the practical skills to implement Plant Variety Protection (PVP) systems effectively.

Meeting in Accra from April 6 to 8, 2022, participants from Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone will have the opportunity to learn about legal and institutional aspects, the exploitation of intellectual property rights, practical contractual arrangements for the use (commercialization) of the protected variety by public or private breeding companies, and the principles of licensing agreements, concerning PVP systems.

"Currently in West Africa, few countries are developing and implementing a legal framework for the protection of plant varieties as part of an intellectual property rights system," says Dr Hippolyte AFFOGNON, Coordinator of the Partnership Program for Agricultural Research, Education and Development in West Africa (PAIRED), implemented by CORAF.

This workshop aims to reverse this trend, particularly in the target countries, by equipping key players in the sector with the skills they need to set up and implement an effective PVP system.

An effective PVP system is essential in the seed sector. It can be an important tool for encouraging the creation and dissemination of new seed varieties, guaranteeing and improving access to innovation, technology transfer, food security and genetic diversity."

Dr Hippolyte AFFOGNON, PAIRED Coordinator.

At the end of the workshop, it is expected that :

• The path to a successful PVP system is well understood by participants;
• A knowledge base is created to facilitate the introduction and practical implementation of the PVP system and intellectual property rights in target countries;
• National action plans for the implementation of PVP systems are drawn up.

"With this training, it is expected that seed breeding activity will be further developed, particularly in the target countries, so that farmers can have at their disposal a wider range of technologies and innovations to meet their current and future challenges", says Dr. Yacouba DIALLO, Agricultural Inputs Expert at CORAF.

"Knowing that the seed sector is the backbone of agriculture, this will certainly help increase yields and farmers' incomes."

The workshop was organized within the framework of PAIRED, specifically its component 3, which aims to increase the use of quality agricultural inputs in West Africa.

The workshop is jointly organized by CORAF and the Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants / African Intellectual Property Organization (UPOV/OAPI), the Groupement national interprofessionnel des semences et plants (GNIS) and the Access to Seed Foundation.

It follows a previous workshop of this kind, held last year and targeting a cohort of French-speaking participants.