Law Passed to Protect Intellectual Property of Plant Breeders

Vincentian lawmakers have passed an Act that will grant protection rights to plant breeders in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

The Plant Breeders’ Protection Act, which was successfully passed in the House on Thursday, December 19, seeks not only to create employment but also protect the intellectual property of plant breeders as well.

Saboto Caesar, the Minister of Agriculture described it as “a trailblazing piece of legislation” and thanked the Registrar and staff at the Commercial and Intellectual Office (CIPO), office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Agriculture for their work in preparing it.

“Breeding consists Mr Speaker, of selecting the best plants in a given subset, growing them and using either the seeds or cuttings to grow further generations. This bill, Mr Speaker seeks to protect the effort and hard work of persons, companies and organisations which will make significant investments as it pertains to their intellectual property,” Caesar said.

In addition to creating jobs and protecting one’s intellectual property, the agriculture minister said the Act will also serve to protect and improve on indigenous plants and increase productivity and production in agriculture which will lead to agricultural sustainability.

He said that it also assists in the prevention of food shortages around the world, particularly in this period of climate change.

“Because of the investment that plant breeders will be making in St Vincent and the Grenadines, this investment will cause breeders to accrue rights and these rights will be protected locally, regionally and internationally,” Caesar said.

He said that once the Act comes into being, this country will be able to participate fully as a member of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, which was enacted in 1961 and revised in 1972 and 1991.

The agriculture minister also said that SVG will be the third country in the Caribbean after Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago to be a part of this convention.

“In the case of St Vincent and the Grenadines, we have a state of the art tissue culture lab and with a legal framework like this, we are going to have discussions with persons in the private sector as to how we can utilise the infrastructure that we have so they can improve on their skills as plant breeders,” Caesar said. “And within the ministry of agriculture, we have technicians who have already expressed an interest in utilising technology that they have to embark on plant breeding and of course, to have their rights protected.”

The Plant Breeders’ Protection Rights Act says that a breeder may apply for protection rights whether or not they are a citizen of SVG, a resident of the country or the plant variety was bred in SVG.

It also includes provisions for how applications are granted, which is done by the Registrar and conditions for applications to be granted.

“So it’s not all applications will be accepted because there are certain pre-requisites which must be met as it pertains to the stability of the research that is embarked upon by stated plant breeder,” the agriculture minister said.

Roland ‘Patel’ Matthews, the representative for North Leeward was the first parliamentarian to contribute to the debate on this Act.

And he said that while he understands the need for a bill like this, he has concerns about how it will affect local farmers, given that one does not need to be Vincentian to claim plant breeders’ protection rights.

Matthews said that he believes the bill is also coming to the House at this time because of the legislation passed last year for marijuana cultivation for medicinal purposes.

“I believe that this bill is coming before this house because of what we did a year ago. It is the only commodity right now in St Vincent that lends itself to the sort of protection that this bill …lends itself mostly to the sort of protection this bill is meant to promote,” he said.

The North Leeward representative said that there are investors in the medicinal cannabis industry in Canada who are given plant breeders protection rights.

He noted that some investors in SVG’s medicinal marijuana industry are from Canada.

And because the legislation here doesn’t require the individual to be Vincentian or a resident of the country, then these investors have an opportunity to claim marijuana strains that could be unique to this country.

And they are at an advantage when it comes to these kinds of things, Matthews said.

“We might be boasting about 50 years in ganja cultivation. But, basically, it is like the same thing in our fishing industry. We’re still doing things in the same way that people way back were doing it…” he said.

Matthews added; “We know the condition of our local farmers who we expect to be making a meaningful contribution to the industry we are talking about. Are we going to ensure with the state of the art facility we have, that our local farmers will be in some way or the other given protection?”

He called on the agriculture ministry to do a survey that will find out the extent to which there are marijuana plants that may be indigenous to SVG so that this country can receive credit under the Act.

“I am concerned about the fact that it’s a new thing for us and while our local farmers are expected to benefit, I am hoping the day will not come when we have an industry in St Vincent flourishing for years and we have to come back and ask for permission or buy seeds for example to plant what we are planting,” the opposition parliamentarian said.

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, Opposition Leader Dr Godwin Friday and Montgomery Daniel, the minister of Housing also contributed to the debate.