The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has commended the Federal Government for signing the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Bill into law on May 21, 2021. NESG said the implementation of the law would generate $2 billion from seed export in five years.

The PVP Bill was passed by the House of Representatives on December 17, 2020 and the Senate on March 3, 2021, following several months of deliberation. NESG said through the National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER), the Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA), together with AGRA, the Rockefeller Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID, the Group has been collaborating with the Nigeria Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) to support the enacting of legislation that will provide a PVP system that will incentivise national and multinational agribusiness investments and aid the development of Nigeria’s agriculture value chain.

A statement by Yinka Iyinolakan, Head, Corporate Communications, NESG, said the passage and implementation of the PVP Bill will give plant breeders intellectual property over new plant varieties, with exclusive rights to commercialise seed and/or propagation material of the variety.