- targets improved agricultural performance
The National Agricultural Seed Council of Nigeria, NASC in collaboration with CORAF, NML, others on Wednesday, began its national training and awareness creation, implementation on the Plant Variety Protection System.
Recall the Plant Variety Protection Bill was signed into law by President Buhari in 2021 to create a window for the protection of plant varieties in Nigeria.
In an opening address, the Director-General of the Council, Prof. Phillip Olusegun Ojo, welcoming all attendees, formally thanked stakeholders, partners, for various roles played in making the bill become law while emphasizing that it will provide recognition and proper remuneration for breeders who develop varieties of plants.
According to the DG, to ensure that Nigeria benefits from the International Seed Trade, the council with support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other partners both local and international, is also making concerted efforts towards achieving full membership of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plant (UPOV), an international system of intellectual property (IP) rights that protect plant breeders’ rights and encourage innovation in agriculture through the development of new varieties of plants.
He said: “Plant Variety Protection (PVP) is afforded to breeders to as an incentive for the development of new varieties to contribute to sustainable and improved progress in agriculture, horticulture and forestry. The role of the PVP in poor agricultural performance is to provide a legal framework and system that encourages plant breeding leading to the development of superior plant varieties with high yield potentials capable of withstanding conditions resulting from climate change and global population growth”.
The DG highlighting the benefits of having such legal framework in Nigeria, stated that it will increase the investment of plant breeding, number of breeders and breeding entities, provide access to foreign trade in varieties, availability of more improved crop varieties and also enable employment generation, income and general knowledge. Ojo further disclosed that the council has developed guidelines and regulations for PVP and will through the help of the ministry of Justice finish the process and make the document a subsidiary legislation in Nigeria.
Also, Dr. Yacouba Diallo a Senior agri-input development expert with CORAF, a leading Agricultural Innovation in West and Central Africa, on the benefit of the PVP in target countries, stated that as much progress recorded so far in Ghana, Burkina Faso, he believes that protecting our new varieties, will ensure food sufficiency and open more investment in the seed industry.
