PVP Bill will unlock potential across agric ecosystem -Expert

Last updated May 17, 2021

Co-Founder/Managing Partner of Sahel Consulting Agriculture and Nutrition Limited, Dr Ndidi Nwuneli, has said the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Bill, which is currently awaiting presidential assent, has the potential to unlock Nigeria’s agricultural ecosystem as well as protect farmers.Nwuneli, who is also a board member of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), stated this in her opening remarks, during a review of PVP Bill by the NESG and the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) in collaboration with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), themed, “Expert review of the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Bill: Significance and Constraints.”

She said without access to alternative sources of food or income, smallholder farmers were vulnerable to fluctuations in weather patterns, changes in government support and shifts in both local and international markets.

She said there was the need for stakeholders in the sector to work collectively to transform Nigeria’s food ecosystem.

Director-General of the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), Dr Philip Ojo, while delivering a presentation on the “Significance of the PVP Act to the Seeds Subsector and the Nigerian Food and Agriculture Ecosystem,” said the PVP Bill provides intellectual property protection to breeders to help get the best genetics that would aid food security.

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