As
mentioned in the previous two reports, SANSOR and the
Agricultural Research Council (ARC) were revisiting the
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding the marketing and
dissemination of ARC varieties, as well as the collection of
royalties thereof. Although a year passed since the meeting
between representatives of the SANSOR Board of Directors and the
ARC management and institutes involved, the agreement could not
be finalized during this time.
The
uncertainty pertaining to the finalizing of the MOU inhibited
the licensing of new released varieties, as neither party knew
what the final outcome would be. Although the various institutes
concerned had different needs, it was expected that all would
continue to make use of the SANSOR service in this regard.
However, as the existing MOU was still in force, the collection
of royalties continued as usual.
As could be
predicted, the royalties collected during the period under
review displayed a further decline compared to the previous year
owing to late rains during the planting season. A sharp decline
in the area planted to groundnuts and dry beans was recorded.
High maize prizes at the beginning of 2002 discouraged farmers
to plant groundnuts and dry beans. As the latter crops were two
of the three main crops as far as the collection of royalties
were concerned, it reflected negatively on the total amount
collected. Most other crops, however, displayed an increase
ARC ROYALTIES 1996/97 - 2002/03
 |
|
Figure3: The collection of plant breeders’ rights royalties
by SANSOR on behalf of the Agricultural Research Council
(ARC) and University of Stellenbosch over the past seven
years |
