[Ip-health] Resources for the Future: American Patent Policy, Biotechnology, and African Agriculture - The Case for Policy Change

[Mike Palmedo]

http://www.rff.org/rff/News/Features/American-Patent-Policy-Biotechnology-and-African-Agriculture.cfm

*American Patent Policy, Biotechnology, and African Agriculture: The
Case for Policy Change
Resources for the Future
December 2003
*


Improvement in agriculture is one of keys to reducing poverty and hunger
in sub-Saharan Africa, where 70 percent of people are rural and heavily
dependent on farm output. The tools of modern biotechnology can help by
producing seeds and crops that resist insects and disease and do better
in poor soil and drought conditions.

For most of history, such technological innovation has been a freely
shared public benefit. Much of modern biotechnology has been developed,
however, by American and European companies that have little economic
incentive to apply it to the problems of small-scale and subsistence
farmers who are the backbone of African food production. Moreover, to
protect their investments, companies have patented their technologies.

In their new study, *American Patent Policy, Biotechnology, and African
Agriculture: The Case for Policy Change*, RFF Senior Fellow Michael
Taylor and Jerry Cayford document current patent policy in the United
States and show how it may well impede use of biotech agricultural
advances in developing countries. They suggest a set of policy changes
that could help African farmers to access to these new technologies,
while leaving intact the structure of the patent system and not
undercutting the innovation incentives it provides.

For a complete list of RFF's work in this area, see Research Topic:
Biotechnology.