Alternative Value Capture Systems for Improved Wheat Variety Intellectual Property for Increased Access by Tanzanian Smallholder Emerging Farmers: A Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine management theory and impact of agricultural intellectual property rights systems in Tanzania to restructure policies and institutions for more efficient technology adoption and diffusion, enhanced market access, and for social, environmental, and economic development of smallholder emerging farmer. The researcher explores the relationships between value chains, intellectual property rights, institutional innovation, and technology transfer in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The researcher employs a case study methodology that builds on three theoretical frameworks: institutional development in Africa, management theory for institutions adapting in uncertainty, and institutional innovation for development. Data were collected from key informants representing stakeholders along the wheat value chain in Tanzania. These data were analyzed using a value chain approach to understand decisions of value chain actors (both public and private sector) in in relation to one another. The analysis provides clarity to stakeholders to understand how recent legislation on plant variety protection will impact agricultural development and smallholder farmers in the wheat value chain. It provides a framework for showing how premium for improved wheat varieties can be distributed to actors along the value chain and benefit the entire chain without disadvantage to smallholder farmers. The framework contains both qualitative and quantitative indicators that allow for longitudinal monitoring of the value chain to understand the effects of intellectual property on smallholder communities. It delineates the network effects of institutional innovation and the institutional innovation cycle and how these impact development in Tanzania.