marker-assisted selection in wheat - ictsd

Chapter 22 – Marker-assisted selection: policy considerations and options for developing countries 467tools used in MAS and the breeding linesand varieties that are developed from itmay be significant barriers to its furtheranceby NARES, private sector entities andpublic–private partnerships. An excellenttreatise of the influence of IPRs for plantbreeding and the seed sector in developingcountries, including the possible implicationsfor MAS, is given by Tripp, Eaton andLouwaars (2006). By providing an empiricalanalysis of IPR developments in China,Colombia, India, Kenya and Uganda, thisreport provides government and institutionalpolicy- and decision-makers withdetails of the different challenges faced bythese countries in developing their IPRregimes, the options they have chosenthrough policies and legislation to developthese, and the lessons learned in implementingthem. It concludes that while IPRregimes in developing countries requireurgent attention, the supporting legislationand regulations should be the product ofopen debate among different stakeholders,and that, even if legislation is already inplace, many countries will find that theyhave sufficient options for interpretationand application to warrant a thoroughreview of procedures and priorities. Interms of hunger and poverty reduction,the importance of segmenting markets intoexport and non-export crops, and intomajor and orphan crops, should not beoverlooked for gaining preferential accessto molecular tools, breeding lines and varieties(Spillane, 2000).• make greater use of regional and bilateralagreements and organizations to fosterinternational collaboration and obtaincomplementary assets for the furtheranceof MAS.Diplomatic level S&T agreements,knowledge exchange networks andresearch consortia (including those of anational and regional nature) can all buildknowledge within and between molecularlaboratories, genetic resources managementprogrammes and organizations involvedin product delivery. The benefits to developingcountries of both the formal andinformal networked world of collaborativeresearch in molecular biology, geneticimprovement and agricultural S&T in generalare potentially enormous, providingsources of funding and making knowledgeeasier to access and researchers and policymakersmore interconnected (safeguardsare needed, however, to minimize disadvantages/risks).Developing countries arenot sufficiently linked to these resources,the CGIAR’s Generation Challenge andthe EU Research Framework Programmesand competitive grants with partnersfrom individual or groups of developedand developing country research institutionsfunded by bilateral donors beingjust some examples. Their governmentsneed to help them do so by providingfunds for building broadband connections,establishing databases and informationsystems, and attending conferences. Also,some functions of a R&D system such asaccessing IP-encumbered technology maybe accessed virtually or even shared withneighbouring countries (Box 6).Creating effective delivery strategiesto bring the products of MAS-relatedR&D to users and beneficiariesThe channels through which the productsof agricultural research reach producershave undergone major structural changesworldwide, and there is now a wide range ofpublic, private and non-government organizationsinvolved in providing extensionservices. At the same time, those responsiblefor funding and supporting R&D havecome to realize that getting technology and