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

Charity R Nhemachena,Johann Kirsten,Frikkie G Liebenberg

doi:10.17159/sajs.2016/20150164

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.

Highlights

Most of the public research investments were implemented through collaborations between national agricultural research institutes and the International Agricultural Research Centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research such as The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
The variety would be included on the national variety list so it could be known by millers and bakers, but unless the owner applied for Plant breeders’ rights (PBRs), anyone could use any material on the variety without paying the owner for Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)
Since the abolishment of the Wheat Board in 1997, the Agricultural Research Council Small Grains Institute (ARC-SGI) increased their share of PBRs lodged by 5% to 26%, with most of the applications being made in recent years

Summary

Introduction and background

The private sector, on the other hand, requires economic incentives provided by Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) to invest in plant variety innovations.[5] At the same time, the publicly funded research outputs should be protected, utilised and commercialised for the benefit of the funding country. Rights have evolved since the nineteen thirties, when crop improvements became an applied form of genetics practised by specialised institutions and seed companies.[18] The owner of a PBR has the privilege of a sole right period of 5 years and during this period the owner does not award licences, securing a chance to obtain return on investment for plant varietal improvements This means that the breeder is the only one who can use the materials of the variety while it is protected. This expression of farmer rights is known as farmer privileges.[18]

Research methods and data

Findings

Conclusions and recommendations