Leveraging geographical indications to increase the value of strategic African agricultural products

By Kei Tagawa

“Without innovation, there is no way we can overcome the challenges of our time.”

Mr. António Guterres, The Secretary-General of the United Nations [1]

Africa’s Agriculture at a Turning Point

Africa’s agriculture is at a turning point, and innovation and a proactive approach by African policymakers will be the key to unlocking the potential of various strategic agricultural products. The continent currently faces cascading and interconnected global crises, including climate change, energy crises, food inflation, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, all of which adversely affect Africa’s agricultural production and food security. It is, therefore, critical to urgently address these challenges. At the same time, the tasks ahead would provide important opportunities for African countries to take proactive, innovative, inventive, and transformational steps to increase agricultural production and their values.

The Role of Geographical Indications (GIs) in Promoting Strategic Agricultural Products in Africa

One of the intellectual property (IP) rights, geographical indication (GI), was highlighted as a potential tool to promote strategic agricultural products in Africa at the expert group meeting on Africa’s food system transformation on the margins of the 8th UN Science, Technology and Innovation Forum in May 2023. A GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. African countries should leverage GI along with other IP rights, such as trademarks, patents, and plant variety protection, to promote inventive measures since IP rights could affect the production and availability of agricultural produce by regulating dealings in products, processes, innovation, and data.

Unlocking the Potential of African Culinary Traditions and Unique Agricultural Products

Africa has a wide variety of rich culinary traditions, leveraging a wide variety of agricultural products. The potential of these invaluable and intangible assets should be fully released for socio-economic development. For instance, Couscous of the Maghreb region and the Senegalese Ceebu Jën were both inscribed on the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO, further increasing the fame and value of the already world-renowned dishes. These African culinary traditions and various unique agricultural products provide an excellent opportunity to increase their socio-economic values, and African countries ought to strategically use IP tools, such as GI, to leverage their agricultural products in promoting sustainable development.

Geographical Indications (GIs) and Strategic Agricultural Products

GI has the potential to, among others, improve market values and access, provide incentives to local producers, and preserve often-associated traditional knowledge for production. While research on GI’s economic impact in Africa is inconclusive, empirical evidence suggests a positive correlation with increased agricultural produce prices. In Europe, where GI was initially developed, a European Commission’s study found that the unit sales value of a product with a GI is, on average, double that of a similar non-certified product. The study was based on all 3,207 product names protected across the 28 EU Member States at the end of 2017.

In Africa, there are a few noteworthy cases of GI products, such as Penja Pepper in Cameroon and Rooibos or Red Bush tea in South Africa, whereby GIs have been leveraged to promote the marketing of agricultural produce not only to nearby African countries but also exporting to the markets outside of the continent, in particular, Europe. These strategic African products were listed in the EU GI register. For instance, the Rooibos industry produces 16,000 metric tons of Rooibos annually and is estimated to generate about $35 million in sales globally. It should also be highlighted that Rooibos is exported to more than 30 countries across the globe, and Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, the UK, and the USA are the biggest importers of Rooibos. In South Africa, it provides income and employment to more than 5,000 people, contributing to socio-economic development. By leveraging GIs nationally and internationally, other African agricultural products could have similar opportunities for economic growth, depending on the potential markets and competitiveness of respective agricultural products.

The Opportunity for GI to Add Value to Africa’s Strategic Agricultural Produce

The African Union introduced a regional instrument on “Continental Strategy for Geographical Indications in Africa (2018-2023)” in 2017. The strategy identified GIs as a tool to promote sustainable rural development and food security. In the following years, an increasing number of African countries, including the OAPI (Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle), have been expressing interest in GI by accessing the international agreement on the “Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications,” administered by WIPO. African countries have also progressively registered their strategic agricultural products through regional GI registers of OAPI and the ARIPO (African Regional Intellectual Property Organization), based on the technical support of the EU.

GI provides a potential for increasing the values of strategic African agricultural produce, building on appropriate underlying conditions to register as GIs. These conditions include competitive quality of products, necessary infrastructure for their production, and deliberate marketing and branding, among others. Countries should, therefore, further promote strategic agricultural products through GIs registration by creating enabling IP legislation and policies that are contextualized to fit national or local circumstances. In particular, these include countries with necessary legal and policy frameworks in place, such as Zimbabwe, where the Government has already enacted relevant laws and policies, but yet to be applied to national agricultural products. Setting up GI involves the participation of different actors, ranging from producers and government departments to other non-state actors, such as local and international experts and research institutions that can play different roles within the process. Through the GI registration, specific regions’ high-quality agricultural products, such as the main cash crops of tobacco and other horticultural products, including flowers and teas, could endeavor to differentiate themselves and increase their values for national and international markets.

Leveraging GIs for Africa’s Agricultural Transformation

In navigating the challenges of food and agriculture, Africa stands at the precipice of food systems transformation. Leveraging GIs emerges as a potent tool for promoting Africa’s distinctive agricultural products, as evidenced by selected successful cases like Rooibos. As African countries increasingly explore GIs, fostering an environment conducive to GI registration becomes paramount, offering a pathway to enhance the value and global recognition of Africa’s strategic agricultural products. Africa should pursue this proactive approach, which holds the prospect of reinforcing the continent’s agricultural transformation and contributes significantly to socio-economic development.

Notes:

1. Mr. António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the World IP Day in 2017. (source)
2. United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (UN-OSAA) “Harnessing Science Technology and Innovation (STI) for Strengthening Food Systems in Africa.” on 1 May 2023
3. See WIPO Geographical Indications (source)
4. Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia
5. European Commission (2021), “Study on economic value of EU quality schemes, geographical indications (GIs) and traditional specialties guaranteed (TSGs)” (source)
6. European Commission (2020), “Geographical Indications – a European treasure worth €75 billion” (source)
7. It is registered as a Protected GI in the EU register in 2022. (source)
8. It is registered as a Protected GI in the EU register in 2021. (source)
9. Dan Bolton, “Historic Agreement Requires Tea Industry to Share Rooibos Revenue with Indigenous Tribes” source
10. Rooibos Council Industry Statistics (source)
11. Ibid.
12. African Union (2017), “Continental Strategy for Geographical Indications in Africa (2018-2023)” (source)
13. Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration (source)
14. Magui Nnoko, OAPI (2023), “Worldwide Symposium on Geographical Indications” (source)
15. European Union IP Office (EUIPO) (2020),“First GI registration in ARIPO supported by EUIPO” (source)
16. The annexes of the Protocol on IPs, which include that of GI, are yet to be adopted by the state parties of the AfCFTA.
17. Charlene Musiza (2023), “Small Scale Farming and Food Security in Zimbabwe – Any room for Geographical Indications?” These frameworks include the Geographical Indications Act and the Zimbabwe National Intellectual Property Policy.
18. Ibid.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 2: Zero Hunger
• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
• SDG 15: Life on Land
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 2.3: By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists, and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets, and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment.
• SDG 9.5: Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries, in particular developing countries, including, by 2030, encouraging innovation and substantially increasing the number of research and development workers per 1 million people and public and private research and development spending.
• SDG 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
• SDG 15.6: Promote fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and promote appropriate access to such resources.
• SDG 17.6: Enhance North-South, South-South, and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology, and innovation and enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms, particularly at the United Nations level, and through a global technology facilitation mechanism.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Increased agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers
• Number of research and development workers per 1 million people
• Public and private research and development spending
• Sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources
• Promotion of fair and equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources
• Enhanced cooperation and access to science, technology, and innovation

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: un.org