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Tanzania holds first course on plant breeders’ rights


January 30, 2015

Source: AVRDC newsletter

From 24 November-3 December 2014, several plant breeders convened at AVRDC Eastern and Southern Africa to participate in a training course about plant variety protection. The course introduced Plant Breeders’ Rights in Tanzania under the umbrella of UPOV, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, to which all members of the World Trade Organization adhere, and explored practical aspects of implementing the rights. The development of new plant varieties can be a long-term investment of up
to 15 years, and with Plant Breeders’ Rights, intellectual property rights are safeguarded.

The training was organized by Wim Sangster and Laura Piñán González from Naktuinbouw, an organization carrying out official inspection and certification tasks for horticultural seeds and plants under the auspices of the Dutch government.

Patrick Ngwediagi, Tanzania’s Registrar of Plant Breeders’ Rights, explained the importance of the course for his country, and hoped that through the course, agricultural investment would be spurred by the private sector.

The course covered legal aspects such as the UPOV system, but also technical aspects such as the allimportant DUS principle: distinctness, uniformity and stability testing. Kees van Ettekoven, Head of Variety Testing of Naktuinbouw and Clarisse Maton from the French Group for the Study and Inspection of Varieties and Seeds (GEVES) provided case studies during the training. DUS testing of new species took center stage, and staff at AVRDC prepared maize, tomato, African eggplant and pepper crops so that participants were taught using practical examples. The participants also took a field trip to Afrisem, a large privately owned vegetable breeding facility.

The Dutch Government sponsored the course. Jaap Satter from the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands opened the event, and certificates were handed out to participants upon completion of the course by Bert Rikken, Agricultural Counsellor for Kenya, Tanzania and the UN from the Embassy of the Netherlands in Kenya.



More news from: World Vegetable Center


Website: https://avrdc.org/

Published: January 30, 2015

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Plant Breeders’
Rights

This course is organized annually
in Wageningen for professionals
from all over the world. For
residents of certain countries a
limited number of scholarships
are available. For more
information contact:
trainingservices@naktuinbouw

 


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