Zhongnongfa Seed Industry Group Co Ltd

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on July 27 released the first implementation catalogue for the agricultural plant Essentially Derived Variety system, bringing 10 crops—rice, wheat, cotton, rapeseed, peanut, Chinese cabbage, pepper, millet, broad bean, and peach—under the EDV system. The system requires that essentially derived varieties obtain permission from the original variety rights holder and share benefits before commercial promotion, aiming to incentivize original breeding innovation. Liu Lihua, director of the Seed Industry Management Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said this is an important institutional innovation in the field of seed intellectual property, and other crops will be included in due course after a comprehensive assessment of the first catalogue's implementation. The national joint breeding research group has previously trialed the EDV system at over 200 institutions, agreeing that original variety rights holders receive no less than 15 percent of the benefits from the commercial promotion of essentially derived varieties, with no disputes reported so far.