Agricultural scientists in Uganda are advocating for the protection of crop varieties bred and released for farmer uptake

This they say is a legal framework designed to protect new plant varieties developed by breeders while encouraging innovations in the agriculture sector.

Agricultural breeders under their umbrella organisation the National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro) say, if newly developed crops are not protected under the plant Variety Protection (PVP) Act of 2014, then the effort of researchers to release such a variety will not be recognised.

Background

Dr Godfrey Asea a plant breeder specialised in Maize breeding at the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI), one of Naro’s research institutes located in Central Uganda explains that the PVP grants exclusive rights to breeders and recognizes farmers’ contributions, promoting innovation, conservation and agricultural development

It provides exclusive rights to the breeder to produce, sell, market, distribute, import, or export the protected variety, thereby incentivizing research and development in plant breeding

PVP ensures that breeders can recover investments in developing high yielding, disease resistant and climate adapted varieties.

He explains that Uganda has a specific law for plant breeding and variety protection. The Plant Variety Protection Act of 2014 grants intellectual property rights to plant breeders to reward innovation and encourage the development of new crop varieties.

The criteria for protection

Dr Asea explained that for a breeder to be eligible for the protection, he must abide to the procedures which includes key protections and features structures which include Breeder Rights which grants them exclusive rights to produce, sell, export, and license reproductive materials of their registered, proprietary plant varieties.

The eligibility criteria works in such a way that to be protected, a plant variety must be new, distinct, uniform and stable to adopt in any given environmental location.

The law recognizes and protects the inalienable rights of local and farming communities, ensuring that traditional methods of exchanging and saving seeds are not penalized.

The law is administered by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF)

Exclusive Breeder Rights

Successful applicants hold exclusive commercial rights over the plant variety, which allow them to produce, reproduce and license others actors such as seed companies to produce reproductive plant material.

It allows breeders to sell, export and license others to sell or export the protected variety.

It prevent others from performing commercial acts involving the protected material

The validity of the rights differs depending on the nature of the crop. For the case of annual crops 20 years from the date of the application. Vines, Trees and Other Perennials, it licensed for 25 years from the date of the application.

Exceptions and Limitations

The Act balances exclusive rights with public interests and agricultural continuity by providing certain exemptions

Breeding and Research: Protected varieties can be used as a source for breeding and creating entirely new, distinct varieties.

Public Interest: The Minister of Agriculture retains the authority to restrict plant breeder rights if deemed necessary for the public interest.

Farmers' Rights: While the law emphasizes commercial innovation, traditional community-based seed systems can navigate certain customary practices, though the protection of indigenous farmers' rights remains an ongoing topic of legal and policy discussion in Uganda.

Why advocate for breeders rights

Dr Barbara Mugwanya Zawedde, the Principal Technology Promotion Officer at the National Agricultural Research Organization explained that though the PVP Act came into force in 2014, breeders’ rights were not being protected.

This is because scientists and the public had not been sensitized about the law.

As such she mobilised a group of plant breeders with the help of Uganda National Council of Science and Technology (UNCST), a regulatory body under the ministry of agriculture overseeing research processes.

The team began the sensitization exercise and outlined how breeders must benefit from developed varieties.

This therefore called for ensuring that under the intellectual property right, seed companies that uptake breeder seed for further multiplication for use must be a specific amount of money for each kg of seed sold.

This money is usually collected by Intellectual Property committee under and awarded to selected breeders every year.

The Role of the regulatory body

Dr Zawedde explained that UNCST engages local agricultural scientists and researchers by overarching science policy and coordinating the research activities.

The specific engagement regarding PVP rights functions as follows

Policy and Research Oversight: As the national science regulator, UNCST oversees the ethical and scientific conduct of all agricultural research involving biotechnology and plant breeding.

They ensure that scientists follow proper Material Transfer Agreements and intellectual property (IP) guidelines.

Institutional Breeders: Most applicants for PVP rights in Uganda are public agricultural scientists working under Naro, such as those at the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI).

Statutory Authority: The legal custodianship of PVP rights resides with MAAIF.

Under the Plant Variety Protection Act (2014), the Minister of Agriculture appoints a Plant Variety Protection Committee to test, register, and grant breeders' rights.

This committee includes and routinely engages technical experts and agricultural scientists to verify that new plant varieties are distinct, uniform, and stable.

However much as breeders are being rewarded for developing a specific variety under the PVP Act, some of the developed obtained from research organisations in other countries under the arrangement of royalty free can be accessed free.

This is not for commercialisation purposes but for research collaborations with researchers in other countries.