complex biophysical conditions (Bindraban and Rabbinge, 2003). Participatory GIS provides a new set of approaches and methodologies with potential for advancing agricultural development in Africa.

 Recent advances in ICT allow the search for optimal application of inputs in time and space, often by combining GIS and close and remote-sensing technologies and increase labor productivity. In many parts of Africa, e.g., Kenya, ICT has facilitated communication and provided farmers with market information, leading to improved negotiating power. Although in many parts of Africa these technologies have not yet been applied, success stories from countries such as India demonstrate their feasibility in poor regions. In addition, the use of ICT has enabled the availability of quality data sets on agricultural production for disaggregated agroecological areas with spatially defined heterogeneous production systems. In countries in SSA where ICTs are not yet capable of helping individual farmers, simple decision support tools can complement participatory approaches where farmers are encouraged to identify and adapt technologies to suit their own particular circumstances.

5.2.3 Patents for biotechnologies and GM technologies
In SSA, most food and feed crops are grown from farmersaved seeds and farmer-developed varieties with little government or donor support. A key concern over agricultural biotechnology and GM in particular is that it can lead to the decommodification of the seeds that farmers use from one season to another, which would benefit developed countries at the expense of poorer countries (Fok et al., 2007). New technologies are often developed in richer countries and IPRs can claim global applicability.

Maintenance of patent exemptions. Because of this, a number of organizations, such as the WTO TRIPs Council, support the continuing of patent exemptions in SSA (Article 27.3b) and seek to protect the use of traditional AKST, such as at the World Intellectual Property Organization negotiations. SSA has also opposed attempts to restrict farmers’ rights to save and exchange seeds at implementation negotiations of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Agriculture and Food. Such an approach is, consistent with the CGIAR system. For example, IITA explicitly states that it normally does not seek to secure patent or plant breeders’ rights for germplasm, materials or technologies developed by IITA. Moreover, IITA does not see intellectual property protection as a mechanism for securing its own funding.

Laws for patenting in SSA. An alternative approach (promoted by a number of intergovernmental institutions, foundations and bilateral donors) is based on patenting seed varieties and other inputs and would require rewriting SSA law. Proponents of such an approach suggest that it will reduce biopiracy and foreign exploitation of local and traditional knowledge. Although the costs involved in securing patents would be too high for individual small-scale farmers, concessions could be negotiated by organizations such as the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF)

for local communities to benefit (as for the maize project where seed is coated with the herbicide imazapyr to control Striga). South Africa has an IPR regime that proponents suggest could provide a favorable environment for both local and foreign investment opportunities. Detractors suggest that an approach based on patents would protect patent holders’ rights while eroding farmers’ rights and would be excessively costly in terms of development, royalty and licensing costs.

 There are alternatives to the two extreme options discussed above that can be explored in the future. Some gene and biotechnology patents that are expiring will become available to poorer countries. Patent protection for “global” crops could be reduced in poorer countries or enforcement could be permitted in either richer or poorer countries but not both (Fok et al., 2007). CAMBIA is an open-source system for biotechnology that has the express purpose of providing free and continuously evolving intellectual property for global users.

5.3 Enhancing Agricultural Product Value Chains
The lack of connection between the farmer and the market has seen SSA agriculture remain rudimentary, unprofitable and unresponsive to market demand. SSA markets, which are readily available to international agricultural products, are relatively inaccessible to SSA farmers. With recent and expected trends relating to market liberalization, decentralization, urbanization and globalization, SSA will continue to experience dramatic social, political, economic and cultural transformations. As such, SSA agriculture must respond to the needs of a different type of consumer, increasingly a better informed, urban-based consumer with a demand for more processed and easy-to-cook foods. SSA agriculture cannot remain rudimentary but must become an integral part of the growing African market economy through a transformation geared towards increased agricultural incomes and employment and competitiveness in local, regional and international markets.

Part of the reason for the current underdevelopment of SSA agriculture lies in the failure to transform farming activities into agribusiness ventures, which are key to developing the various stages of the agricultural product value chain and crucial to linking agriculture to markets. Agribusiness refers to all market and private entities involved in the production, storage, distribution and processing of agricultural products plus the supply of production inputs, extension, administration and research. There are signs that agribusiness development is imminent in SSA, e.g., the recent growth in post-production activities; trends towards more vertically linked and concentrated organizations in agrifood systems; opportunities in agro-industries and agribusiness for valueaddition; and the potential for agribusiness development to provide much needed support services.

Yet for agribusiness, especially agroindustries, to flourish, addressing the growing lack of connection between SSA’s agriculture and farmers and the market, particularly at subregional and regional levels is crucial. This includes strengthening both backward (from input markets) and forward (from output markets) disconnects. Amidst this disconnect is a paradox with regard to SSA trade and mar-