In the late 1990s, the National Botanical Institute (NBI) approached the local nursery industry with a view to involving them in a proposed project that would commercialise selected plants bred from indigenous material with promising horticultural potential. As the response was limited, NBI extended its approach to include horticultural companies in the UK and USA. This is how, in 1999, the research and licensing agreement came about between NBI and the Ball Horticultural Company based in Chicago, Illinois.
The agreement NBI — which became the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) in September 2004 — undertook to select indigenous South African plants which would be of interest to Ball, both from the living collections in the National Botanical Gardens and from the natural environment. In return, Ball agreed to patent any selected or hybridised varieties of these plants and SANBI would receive royalties for 20 years following the plant’s introduction onto the market. Commercialised plants bred and released by Ball from pure species would produce a 4% royalty payment while those bred from pre-selected, pre-bred material from Kirstenbosch, would generate a 10% royalty. SANBI undertook to set up a Trust, managed by its Board, to administer funds derived from profits, for capacity building in horticulture and botanical studies.
One of the benefits contained in the agreement was technology transfer through building the capacity of interns in plant breeding and marketing. To date, eight interns have undergone three-month internships at the Ball headquarters in Chicago.
Another benefit from the project is the extensive field collecting that has taken place. Using the Pretoria Computerised Information System to focus collecting trips on certain genera that Ball have an interest in breeding, field trips have taken place throughout the country. Excellent records, including GIS references, have been kept for all the collected plants. The scope of collecting trips has been broadened to include herbarium and other staff from different National Botanical Gardens to assist in the collection of material for Kirstenbosch’s living collections. The regular discovery of new species demonstrates that such trips play an important role in contributing to building up biodiversity information and to conservation efforts. Voucher specimens of many of the collected plants are housed in the Compton Herbarium, Kirstenbosch.
The Ball agreement provided for a one-off payment to SANBI to purchase a vehicle and build a fully automated glasshouse. Collected plants are propagated and housed in the glasshouse where computerised climate control systems ensure customised conditions creating optimal growing conditions for the plants, allowing them to be grown vigorously and bulked up quickly. Ball has also loaned research funds to SANBI to cover the operational costs of the project which will be repaid through royalties, which began to be generated three years after the project was initiated.
From the different plant accessions that have been sent to Ball to be evaluated, eight new hybrids bred from Kirstenbosch plant material have been released. The first plant variety to be successfully commercialised, Mona Lavender, is a hybrid of two Plectranthus species developed by SANBI, which is generating a 10% royalty and is available commercially throughout Europe, the US, Japan and South Africa. Plant Breeder’s Rights have been granted worldwide for the variety with application also having been made in South Africa by Ball, on behalf of SANBI.
The SANBI project manager has met with plant breeders from Ball who work specifically on South African genera, thus obtaining valuable information regarding the traits they are looking for in each particular breeding project. Further useful information relating to effective glasshouse management, plant production and plant hygiene and the improvement of packaging and shipping techniques for the plant material, was obtained.
Developing our own hybrids As Kirstenbosch keeps backups of all the living collections and has a large selection of species with which to breed, the SANBI project staff have decided to do some of the initial plant breeding and selection themselves and to develop their own hybrids. This will speed up the entire breeding process and result in a substantially higher royalty than is presently being produced. We have also acquired a better grasp of the type, habit and taxon of plant that is likely to be successful in the horticultural market. The collecting programme continues to be broad but we are only focusing on three or four genera for breeding purposes, some of which are proving to be very promising.
Although the agreement represents a significant effort by South Africa to control the outflow and use of its indigenous genetic resources in the global horticultural trade, it has elicited criticism from some stakeholders who feel that the scope of the agreement is too wide, the benefit-sharing arrangements too weak and that inadequate provision has been made for job creation and local economic development. It has been pointed out that it is very difficult to compile accurate statistics on horticultural markets on which to base an assessment of equitable sharing of financial benefits (1). The reasons for this include the definitions of horticulture and the basis for compiling statistics which vary from country to country. In addition, no national legislation related to access and benefit-sharing was in place in South Africa at the time the agreement was negotiated.
The National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act (NEMBA), however, contains a chapter on Bioprospecting, Access and Benefit-sharing which has implications for all bioprospecting activities. Regulations to implement this chapter, as well as those dealing with permitting issues, have not yet been finalised. The legislation requires that benefit-sharing agreements be entered into with suppliers of the genetic resources to conform with requirements set out in the Act. These must be negotiated before permits to collect material will be granted for bioprospecting purposes. To obtain an export permit for indigenous biological material, a benefit-sharing agreement and a material transfer agreement must be in place. As it is not always possible to assess all of the benefits prior to the research being carried out, benefit sharing agreements will need to make allowance for this as the project progresses. There is also a requirement to renegotiate all existing bioprospecting agreements.
Any royalties generated so far have been used to defray the annual research fee provided annually by Ball and those derived from SANBI plant material have been less than expected even though it is recognised that the breeding process does take time. Experience has shown that growers are reluctant to invest in plants such as Jamesbrittenia which are essentially unknown on the horticultural market and they tend to stick to the tried and tested favourites such as Plectranthus which is far more versatile, better known and more widely sought after. Hopefully, however, with improved cultivars and new lines, the royalties generated will be increased.
Dr Maureen Wolfson is Director, Research Services and Scientific Services,
South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
(1) Ten Kate K. and Laird S., 1999. The Commercial Use of Biodiveristy: Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing. Earthscan Publications Ltd, London, UK.
