Ghana needs plant variety protection law – MoFA Director
Ghana has no plant variety protection law and so breeders lack the opportunity to patent their newly developed crop varieties, an official of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has said.
Dr Dorothy Effa, Assistant Director, in charge of Policy Planning and Budget Directorate, said an unprotected plant variety development system was not attractive for private investment and called for strong advocacy for the passage of a plant variety protection law in Ghana.
She made the remarks when she presented an overview of Micro Reforms for African Agribusiness (MIRA) implementation in Ghana at a two-day national stakeholders’ workshop organized by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa.
The workshop was to identify and address issues in the fertilizer industry to help sustain agricultural production and food security, and to generate recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the national fertilizer policy.
Dr Effa said education and sensitization of all stakeholders to understand the purpose of the plant Breeders Bill was very necessary so that they would support the passage of the Bill.
She said there had been protracted delay in the approval of the seed regulations since the passage of the Plants and Fertilizer Act 2010 (Act 803).
This implied that there was weak and inefficient implementation of the Seed Law since its passage in 2010 as well as weak enforcement of the seed inspection and certification standards, she said.
She said there was the need to equally advocate for the coming into force of the Draft Harmonized Seed Regulations, facilitate operationalization of the National Seed Council and provide technical assistance to the National Seed Inspection Division of the Plant Protection Regulatory Services Directorate.
It was also important to facilitate the development of efficient procedures and processes for accreditation of private seed enterprises for inspection and certification services, Dr Effa noted.
She also called for the provision of technical assistance for the improvement of the Quality Assurance System across the Fertilizer Supply System, to mitigate the presence of adulterated and fake fertilizers, which make farmers experience low yield.
She added that despite the existence of the Weights and Measures Decree (1975), there was limited use of Grades and Standards and Weights and Measures in marketing of staple agricultural commodities.
This, she said, led to unfair trade among small-scale operators, which affected Ghana’s trade within ECOWAS countries, which enforce the use of standard measures.
As a result, it does not provide transparency in the staple crop marketing along the value chain, create awareness on the existence and content of the weights and measures decree (1975) and affects Ghana’s trade within ECOWAS which enforces the use of standard measures.
Dr Effa said there was also lack of a law to back the use of warehouse receipts as securities which could be held by the Bank, hence traders and farmers could not use their warehouse receipts as collaterals to access funds.
MIRA is a five-year initiative by AGRA to support African countries to find solutions that will lead to increased private investment in small- and medium sized agribusinesses.
Being implemented in five focal countries, namely Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria, MIRA will facilitate access to high quality technical assistance for identifying, prioritizing and reforming specific agricultural regulations and policies.
MIRA is demand-driven, and therefore countries are expected to come up with country specific challenges (policies, regulations and administrative practices) hindering private investment, that the MIRA can help address.
Source: GNA