Food, geography, traditions: Protecting agricultural traditional products

15th May 2013. Brussels. This CTA Brussels Development Briefing tackle the topic of ‘Food, geography, traditions: Protecting agricultural traditional products’, by looking at the challenges and opportunities for protecting traditional knowledge and registered agricultural products in a sustainable way.

The first session looked at ways of preserving traditional knowledge: frameworks, processes and tools, and discussed the various frameworks, uses and tools to protect and preserve traditional agricultural and food products, and their added value in terms of quality, reputation, competitiveness, profitability and support to biodiversity.

The second panel reviewed the potential of origin-linked tools for ACP producers based on successes, by looking especially at sustainability factors.

Video streaming by Ustream Background: 
In 2013, sixteen African countries (members of OAPI - Organisation africaine de la propriété intellectuelle) are to recognize the first three foodstuff products as Protected Geographic Indications (PGIs): Penja pepper, Oku honey and Ziama-Macenta coffee. Moreover, the signature in November 2012 of the cooperation between the European Commission and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) to help improve the protection of traditional agricultural products (geographical indications or "GIs”) in the 18 ARIBO member countries represents another important indicator of the growing interest on the topic in developing countries.