Plant Variety Protection regulation to be passed by end of 2021 – Ghana's Agric Minister discloses

The Plant Variety Protection (PVP) regulation will be passed by end of this year, Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has disclosed.

He noted that government is in talks with the Council For Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), National Seed Trade Association of Ghana (NASTAG) and other key stakeholders in the agricultural sector to ensure the passage of the PVP regulation.

In a speech read on his behalf at the second Ghana Seed Business and Networking Forum in Accra, the Agric Minister said, the move when in action, will allow plant breeders to accrue interests on their investments.

“The Ministry of Justice and Attorney General, CSIR, NASTAG, MoFA as well as relevant stakeholders are working hard to ensure that the PVP regulations are passed before close of the year so that plant-breeders will have returns on their investment,” he said.

The Plant Variety Protection bill seeks to protect the rights of breeders of new varieties of plants.

Touching on the supply of seeds to farmers, the Agric Minister said a total of  6,764mt of hybrid maize seeds have been distributed to farmers as at September this year.

He added that 4,525mt of rice and soybean seeds were also shared to farmers within the same period.

“16,382mt representing 91% and 4,126mt representing 88% of rice and soyabean seeds have been distributed respectively.”

The Agric Minister stated that the implementation of the Ghana CARES Obaatanpa programme is not to only support seed production but to provide a 50% interest rate subsidy for producers, aggregators and processors of these commodities.