CAS-IP's Francesca Re Manning gave a presentation at the Cambridge University International Development Society. The talk gave an overview on the importance and the use of intellectual property in the development of the economy of many countries, in particular securing food and animal feed. Francesca therefore also discussed the role of the CGIAR and of CAS-IP. The presentation was very well received and raised interest especially as many had not associated food to intellectual property rights before.

1. Food Crisis, Development and
Intellectual Property
D.ssa Francesca Re Manning
CAS-IP
A presentation to the Cambridge International Development Society
5 December 2009

2. Food Crisis
World Bank “food prices rose 83% over last 3
years”
FAO “45% increase in food price index in last 9
months

4. Food Crisis
But the crisis was not sudden. Prices have been
rising for some time now, so perhaps earlier
warning signs were missed or ignored?

6. Food prices or overpopulation?
IFDP “food produced steadily at over 20% a
year while rate of population growth dropped at
1.14% a year

7. Some causes
“Unnecessary” or excessively produced
products – tobacco, cocoa, tea, sugar...
Droughts in wheat producing areas
Biofuels diversion of crops – 10%

8. Deeper and long-term causes
No voice in food security policy of developing
countries
WTO removal of trade barriers
GMOs and proprietary of technology

9. Agriculture and Development
75% poor people depend on agriculture to
survive
In agriculture-based countries, it generates on
average 29% of the GDP and employs 65% of
the labour force
Investigation in Agriculture is essential

10. The Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research
CGIAR
Created in 1971
Alliance of countries, international and regional
organizations, and private foundations
• supporting 15 international agricultural research
Centres
• that work with national agricultural research systems,
civil society organizations, and the private sector.

11. The CGIAR

12. CGIAR 5 focuses
Sustainable production
Enhancement of National Agricultural Research
Systems (NARS)
Germplasm Improvement
Germplasm Collection
Policy

13. Some achievements of the CGIAR
Comite’s de Investigacion Agricola Local
New Rices for Africa (NERICA)
Quality Protein Maize
Potatoes Virus detection kit
Improved, drought resistant maize
Improved aquaculture techniques and new
varieties of tilapia fish

14. Borlaug’s reaction to critics to Green
Revolution
"some of the environmental lobbyists of the Western
nations are the salt of the earth, but many of them are
elitists. They've never experienced the physical
sensation of hunger. They do their lobbying from
comfortable office suites in Washington or Brussels. If
they lived just one month amid the misery of the
developing world, as I have for fifty years, they'd be
crying out for tractors and fertilizer and irrigation canals
and be outraged that fashionable elitists back home
were trying to deny them these things".

15. Primal aim of the CGIAR
Knowledge AS International Public Goods
• Available, Accessible, Applicable
• Non-rivalrous
• Non- excludable
• Transboundaries

16. Knowledge as International Public
Good
CGIAR Centres must managed the knowledge
produced properly to ensure
• access
• sharing
• impact

17. Central Advisory Service
Assist the Centres to manage their knowledge
to ensure access and use of their intellectual
assets as public goods for the benefit of the
poor

18. Intellectual Assets as Property
Intellectual Property
“all those things that emanate from the exercise of the
human mind”

19. The law....
The law does not protect the right to own
intellectual property unless the author has taken
steps to claim ownership over the results of
his/her creative product

20. Intellectual Property Rights
IPRs are the rights granted to inventors, artists,
plant breeders, in recognition of their work
There is usually a need to meet certain
standards of creativity before it is granted
The rights granted are limited – by time, and by
country
Often exploited by licensing
When others wish to use IPRs they must get
consent, and perhaps pay a royalty

21. Main IPRs in Agriculture
Patents
Plant Variety Rights
Copyright
Geographical Indications

22. Patents
Exclusive right to make, use and sell
Monopoly granted by the State to the inventor to
disclose the invention and recoup investment
A grant of a patent requires an invention to pass tests
of novelty, inventive step (unobviousness), and
industrial applicability
Rights are national, i.e. by country

23. Just for a laugh!....

24. The Dummy Chicken Farmer...

25. Patents and Public Goods
Enola bean case
• patent over new variety of yellow bean
• restrictions on imports (sale)
• limitation on farmers’ right to re-use, exchange or sell
patented seed + breeders’ right of to use that seed
for further research and breeding purposes
Turmeric & Basmati cases
• Used for years in India – millions of money to defend

26. International Solution
Countries’ recognition of genetic material
subject to patent protection and no return
Convention on Biological Diversity (“CBD”)
• Conservation
• Sustainable use
• Fair & Equitable sharing of profits

27. Free exchange of genetic material
CBD requires bilateral agreements
• Time and money consuming
International Treaty on Plant Genetic for Food
and Agriculture (“IT”)
• Multilateral system for exchange of list of crops
• Farmers’ rights: traditional knowledge & decision-
making
• Restrictions on IPRs over original material
• Compulsory benefit sharing if commercialised

28. Copyright
Right over expression of idea involving some
creative element – literary, musical, theatrical...
Automatic right once fixated – but US system
• so not on ideas
Exclusive right to control copying or issuing
copies, adapt, translate, modify

29. Copyright and Public Goods
Open Access
• Make results of research as widely and accessible
as possible
• Free from technological and economic restraints
Wheat scientist in Kazakhstan
NGO Extension in Ethiopia
• Negotiations with Publishers

30. Copyright and Public Goods
Creative Commons
• some rights reserved
• clear understanding of permitted uses
Open Access Journals

31. Geographical Indications
Name or sign used on a product corresponding
to the country or place of origin
• Protected Denomination of Origin (“PDO”) and
Protected Geographical Indication (“PGI”)
– Natural and Human factor
– Quality, reputation, or other characteristic
Protection against incorrect and misleading,
damaging or exploiting reputation
• Darjeeling (and Darjeeling Nouveau)
• Budweiser (Budejovice or Budweis)

33. Geographical Indications and
Development
Collective group of producers
Protection and development
• Economy
• Traditional knowledge
• Rural community
• Agro-Biodiversity
Ethiopian Coffee: Harar, Sidamo, and Yirgacheffe

34. Thank you!
f.remanning@cgiar.org