IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/iaae06/25455.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effects of Strengthened IPR Regimes on the Plant Breeding Sector in Developing Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Eaton, Derek J.F.
  • Tripp, Robert
  • Louwaars, Niels P.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effect of intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes on the plant breeding sector in developing countries. Most of these countries have implemented a system of plant variety protection (PVP), or are in the process of doing so, generally as part of their obligations under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This paper presents the results of research on the initial effects of IPRs on the plant breeding sector in five case study countries (China, Colombia, India, Kenya and Uganda). Three of the countries have PVP systems in place and the other two are in the process of either developing or implementing legislation. But the ease of implementing PVP seems to have been overestimated. Opportunities to minimize the transaction costs of acquiring and enforcing rights are being missed. Detailed interviews with both domestic and international seed companies suggest that PVP can not be expected to initiate the development of a commercial seed sector. But a well functioning system can play a role in stimulating further development of the sector, although a measured approach to increasing the scope of protection will probably better balance interests than rapid adoption standards of industrialized countries. The results also highlight the particular challenges facing national agricultural research institutes in determining how to best make use of IPRs, such as PVP, particularly given broader changes in publicly-financed agricultural research.

Suggested Citation

  • Eaton, Derek J.F. & Tripp, Robert & Louwaars, Niels P., 2006. "The Effects of Strengthened IPR Regimes on the Plant Breeding Sector in Developing Countries," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25455, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae06:25455
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.25455
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/25455/files/cp061120.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.25455?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pray, Carl & Ma, Danmeng & Huang, Jikun & Qiao, Fangbin, 2001. "Impact of Bt Cotton in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 813-825, May.
    2. Alston, Julian M. & Venner, Raymond J., 2002. "The effects of the US Plant Variety Protection Act on wheat genetic improvement," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 527-542, May.
    3. Lence, Sergio H. & Hayes, Dermot J. & McCunn, Alan & Smith, Stephen & Niebur, William S., 2005. "Welfare Impacts of Intellectual Property Protection in the Seed Industry," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12434, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    4. Alan McCunn & Stephen Smith & William S. Niebur, 2005. "Welfare Impacts of Intellectual Property Protection in the Seed Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(4), pages 951-968.
    5. Koo, Bonwoo & Pardey, Philip G. & Qian, Keming & Zhang, Yi, 2003. "The Economics of Generating and Maintaining Plant Variety Rights in China," 2003 Conference (47th), February 12-14, 2003, Fremantle, Australia 57908, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    6. Byerlee, Derek & Fischer, Ken, 2002. "Accessing Modern Science: Policy and Institutional Options for Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 931-948, June.
    7. W. Lesser, 1997. "Assessing the Implications of Intellectual Property Rights on Plant and Animal Agriculture," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(5), pages 1584-1591.
    8. Leger, Andreanne, 2005. "Intellectual property rights in Mexico: Do they play a role?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 1865-1879, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Spielman, David J. & Ma, Xingliang, 2014. "Intellectual property rights, technology diffusion, and agricultural development: Cross-country evidence:," IFPRI discussion papers 1345, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Charity Ruramai Nhemachena & Johann F. Kirsten & Binganidzo Muchara, 2019. "The Effects of Plant Breeders’ Rights on Wheat Productivity and Varietal Improvement in South African Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Martina Bozzola & Tim Swanson & Helena Ting, 2016. "Transfer of improved varieties in informal markets and the diffusion of embedded innovation: experimentation with genetic resources in Uganda," CIES Research Paper series 46-2016, Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute.
    4. Kolady, Deepthi & Spielman, David J. & Cavalieri, Anthony J., 2010. "Intellectual property rights, private investment in research, and productivity growth in Indian agriculture: A review of evidence and options," IFPRI discussion papers 1031, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adrien Hervouet & Marc Baudry, 2011. "Promoting innovation in the seed market and biodiversity: the role of IPRs and commercialization rules," Post-Print hal-02012239, HAL.
    2. Tripp, Robert & Louwaars, Niels & Eaton, Derek, 2007. "Plant variety protection in developing countries. A report from the field," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 354-371, June.
    3. Stefan Ambec & Corinne Langinier & Stéphane Lemarié, 2008. "Incentives to Reduce Crop Trait Durability," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(2), pages 379-391.
    4. Khachaturyan, Marianna & Yiannaka, Amalia, 2006. "The market acceptance and welfare impacts of genetic use restriction technologies (GURTS)," 98th Seminar, June 29-July 2, 2006, Chania, Crete, Greece 10097, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Sadashivappa, Prakash & Qaim, Matin, 2009. "Effects of Bt Cotton in India During the First Five Years of Adoption," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 49947, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Liu, Zhen & Kemp, Ron G.M. & Jongsma, Maarten A. & Huang, Caicheng & Dons, J.J.M. & Omta, S.W.F, 2014. "Key Success Factors of Innovation Projects of Vegetable Breeding Companies in China," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 17(4), pages 1-28, November.
    7. Campi, Mercedes & Nuvolari, Alessandro, 2015. "Intellectual property protection in plant varieties: A worldwide index (1961–2011)," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 951-964.
    8. Tiffany Shih & Brian Wright, 2011. "Agricultural Innovation," NBER Chapters, in: Accelerating Energy Innovation: Insights from Multiple Sectors, pages 49-85, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Pardey, Philip G. & Koo, Bonwoo & Nottenburg, Carol, 2004. "Creating, Protecting, And Using Crop Biotechnologies Worldwide In An Era Of Intellectual Property," Staff Papers 13600, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    10. Nagarajan, Latha & Pardey, Philip G. & Smale, Melinda, 2006. "Local seed systems for millet crops in marginal environments of India: industry and policy perspectives," EPTD discussion papers 151, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Sergio H. Lence & Dermot J. Hayes, 2008. "Welfare Impacts of Cross-Country Spillovers in Agricultural Research," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(1), pages 197-215.
    12. Baudry Marc & Hervouet Adrien, 2016. "Innovation in the Seed Market: The Role of IPRs and Commercialization Rules," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 51-68, May.
    13. Wilson, William W. & Huso, Scott R., 2008. "Trait Stacking, Licensing, and Seed Firm Acquisitions on Genetically Modified Grains: A Strategic Analysis," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 33(3), pages 1-20.
    14. Adrien Hervouet & Stéphane Lemarié, 2023. "The Economics of Royalty Rates in Plant Breeding," Working Papers 2023-03, Grenoble Applied Economics Laboratory (GAEL).
    15. Kremer, Michael & Zwane, Alix Peterson, 2005. "Encouraging Private Sector Research for Tropical Agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 87-105, January.
    16. Bullock, David S., 2012. "Dangers of Using Political Preference Functions in Political Economy Analysis: Examples from U.S. Ethanol Policy," 2012 First Congress, June 4-5, 2012, Trento, Italy 124118, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA).
    17. Abby Kelly & Kalyn T. Coatney & Xiaofei Li & Keith H. Coble, 2020. "Subsidy Incidence in the Presence of Bertrand Suppliers of Complementary Inputs: A U.S. Agricultural Example," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 479-501, September.
    18. Charity Ruramai Nhemachena & Johann F. Kirsten & Binganidzo Muchara, 2019. "The Effects of Plant Breeders’ Rights on Wheat Productivity and Varietal Improvement in South African Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-16, June.
    19. Spielman, David J., 2007. "Pro-poor agricultural biotechnology: Can the international research system deliver the goods?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 189-204, April.
    20. Derek Eaton, 2013. "Innovation and IPRs in the Agricultural Seed Sector," CIES Research Paper series 19-2013, Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crop Production/Industries;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:iaae06:25455. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.