 Plant Variety |
To sell a seed or cuttings (propagating material) from a plant, you must first have it registered on the variety list.
Before you can sell propagating material of certain kinds of plant in South Africa, you must apply at the Registrar for Plant Improvement for your new plant variety to be recognised.
You may request the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) to include the new plant variety in the variety lists in terms of the Plant Improvement Act, 1976 (Table 2 of the Act).
The DAFF maintains the variety lists for the most important agricultural, vegetable and fruit crops. The determining factor is the importance of plant to the South African economy.
A plant variety may be listed (recognised) if the following requirements are met:
- Propagating material must comply with the DUS (distinctness, uniformity and stability) requirements:
- it must be clearly distinguishable from any other variety of the same species
- it must be uniform (homogeneous), i.e. all the plants in a planting must look similar and have the same characteristics
- it must be stable i.e. the plants of the particular variety must, after repeated cultivation still look like the original plants
- it must have an acceptable denomination.