Director-General of the National Agricultural Seeds Council, NASC, Philip Ojo, says the Plant Variety Protection, PVP, Law will provide intellectual property protection to breeders and improve food security in Nigeria.
Addressing Media DIalogue on Why Nigeria needs the PVP Law, Ojo highlighted the importance of the legislation for agricultural transformation, and the need for Nigerians to pay more attention to Plant Variety Protection.
For some stakeholders like National Coordinator, National Agricultural Seeds Advocacy Group, NASAG, Celestine Okeke, the private sector is not willing to invest in the new plant varieties due to the lack of PVP Law. He stressed the need for private sector investment in PVP. In his words “We need to look at how we can secure the investment of those who are investing.” He said that just as authors have copyrights, plant breeders also need the PVP law to secure investors who are brave enough to invest.
On his part, the President Nigeria Plant Breeders Association, NPBA, said Nigeria is in a food deficit and one of the key reasons is the kind of varieties that the country grows.
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“The PVP is to work with the seed law that enables the National Agricultural Seeds Council to implement the seed law which helps the country to regulate seeds. He said that it will have a longer-term effect on how the farmers can benefit by growing the right kind of varieties.
According to them, the law will serve as a motivation for plant breeders to continue to develop improved varieties for farmers.
The role of PVP in responding to food security is the development of superior plant varieties with high yield potentials capable of withstanding conditions resulting from climate change, global population, and growth.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
