Proceedings of the Fifth Asian Regional Maize Workshop - Search ...

We have not included in this list plant varietal protection (PVP) laws and other
forms of intellectual property rights (IPR) legislation. In our experience, these have not
been very important in stimulating the emergence of seed markets during their initial
stages of development.
It is important to recognize that there is no single "best" institutional framework
to encourage the emergence of a flourishing seed industry. Hybrid maize success stories
have been realized under a variety of institutional arrangements. In many cases, a single
seed company or cooperative has played a leading role in launching a hybrid maize seed
industry. Examples include the National Seed COOperative in Zimbabwe, the Kenya Seed
Company (originally owned by commercial maize producers but now with a majority ownership
by the Kenyan government), and a locally owned private seed company in El salvador. At the
other extreme, in India a combination of public institutions and locally owned private
seed companies have stimulated a very competitive seed industry.
4.2. Mature seed markets
In mature seed markets, incentives are often substantial for private companies to
assume a larger role in R&D activities. In mature markets, most farmers are already
familiar with hybrids and are willing to pay higher prices for quality seed. Furthermore,
farmers expect that new, superior hybrids will be released periodically, leading to steady
increases in yields (Figure 10). Thus, there is more scope for private companies to invest
in R&D in order to develop branded products, as well as to invest in marketing and
promotion in order to differentiate their products in the marketplace.
9,000 ..., .
•
8,000
7,000
6,000
Yield 5,000
(kg/ha)
4,000
3,000
2,000
\,000
Fig. 10.
o-t-----,----,-----,------r----.------,
1930 1940
1950 1960 \970 \980 1990
Year of release
Source: IJuo.ick (1992).
Yields of US maize hybrids, by year of release.
In countries with well-established and dynamic private seed industries, public
breeding programs must redefine their role so as to complement the activities of the
private sector. The experience of many industrialized countries suggests that if public
breeding programs do not redefine their roles, they will be left trying to compete with
private companies in a contest in which the rules inevitably favor those who pay greatest
attention to the bottom line. Although public breeding programs may be able to adopt some
of the practices of private companies (including charging fees for their products), there
is usually a limit to the degree to which this will be possible. Thus, public breeding
programs must be willing to cede responsibility for some of their former functions and to
concentrate on activities which private companies are unlikely to undertake. Activities
which the public sector can perform in a mature seed market include:
concentrating on the development of OPVs or hybrids for farmers and
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