The IP Unit is hosting a high level round-table meeting on Plant Variety Protection in Africa in collaboration with the Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) Africa Program and Wageningen University. ISSD aims to promote agricultural development by recognizing and building upon the diversity of seed systems in a given country. The meeting is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

Several countries and regions in Africa are in the process of developing and implementing Plant Variety Protection (PVP) systems in response to various policy goals. However this has not been without social debate because of concerns about the impact on informal seed systems, which still is the predominant source of seed for smallholder farmers in Africa. Plant variety rights are an important instrument for incentivising breeding in the formal and above all the commercial seed systems, their impact on informal seed systems is disputed.

The goal of the meeting is to encourage a free and frank discussion among key stakeholders of these issues including key components of a differentiated PVP system which incorporates the various seed systems and supports commercial, food security and smallholder farmers’ interests. The round-table meeting will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, on 27-28 November 2014.