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FAO side event during the 23rd session of the Committee on Agriculture

FAO headquarters, Tuesday, 22 May 2012, 17.30 hours, Iran Room

Origin-linked quality:

a tool for sustainable development?

Morocco, Brazil and Guinea present their experience

Report

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or to the Chief, Publishing Policy and Support Branch, Office of Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension, FAO,

Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy. © FAO 2012

All material presented during the session are available at:

www.foodquality-origin.org/events/meetings/origin-linked/en/

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Contents

Background ................................................................................................................................................... 4

Exhibition and tasting of terroir products from Brazil, France, Guinea, Italy, Morocco

and Sierra Leone ......................................................................................................................................... 4

Opening of the session .............................................................................................................................. 5

Presentations................................................................................................................................................ 6

Questions ....................................................................................................................................................... 9

Origin-linked quality: a tool for sustainable development? .................................................... 11

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 13

Annexes ....................................................................................................................................................... 14

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Background

Five years after launching the Quality and Origin Programme to policies regarding support

specific quality and origin-linked quality, FAO wanted to tell interested delegations attending

the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) session about the tools developed under the

programme (see annex 1) and the promising experience of some countries with regard to

origin-linked quality. It is a relatively new topic in most countries, but these first results of

promoting origin-linked quality products illustrate their ability to contribute to a more

sustainable development in terms of production and consumption. Apart from making this

programme better known and sharing various countries’ experience, the aim was therefore to

discuss this whole approach with the participants (see annex 2).

Exhibition and tasting of terroir products from Brazil, France, Guinea, Italy, Morocco

and Sierra Leone

As a practical illustration of the subject, the participants and the Italian and French partners of

the programme offered a sample of the wealth of their food heritage connected with GIs and

terroir products. The abundance of food products offered enabled the participants to

appreciate the wealth and specificity coming from terroirs in various parts of the world.

The exhibition also displayed certain tools developed under the programme:

• a film demonstrating the identification tool connected with the inventory methodology

that has been developed;1

• a film on terroir products from Morocco, made with the Moroccan Ministry of

Agriculture in the framework of FAO projects;2

• various publications available for participants, especially a presentation of the

programme, the guide to sustainable GIs, the methodology for participatory

inventories and case studies.3

1 This film may be seen on the programme website on the page on online tools:

www.foodquality-origin.org/webtool 2 This film may be seen in French and Arabic on the programme website under “technical

assistance” or on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaol5FsMZUA (in French). 3 All this material may be downloaded from the project website: www.foodquality-origin.org

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Opening of the session

The session was moderated by Barbara Burlingame, Senior Officer in FAO’s Nutrition and

Consumer Protection Division.

The French Ambassador to FAO, H.E. Mme Bérengère Quincy, opened the session, stressing

the contribution of specific quality products to sustainable development and food security,

thereby contributing to the Millennium Development Goals. This cross-cutting issue, on

which FAO has been working for some years, has allowed various FAO experts to join forces

and to develop practical tools to optimize origin-linked quality products in developing

countries, especially the practical guide to sustainable indications. In addition, starting this

month, the French Development Agency is supporting an FAO regional project for GIs in

Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam for three years, in order to boost national and

regional capacity and support value chains in optimizing their products. The ambassador

stressed the remarkable results achieved by FAO under this programme, saying that they

testify to the excellent coordination between the headquarters’ regulatory work and practical

implementation work in countries, coordinated by decentralized offices, with feedback from

field experience in order to improve methodological tools.

Modibo Traoré, FAO Assistant Director-General, welcomed the participants and stressed the

excellent opportunity this event represented for combining the pleasures of tasting and

acquiring knowledge. Mr Traoré thanked France warmly for its commitment to starting and

continuing this model Quality and Origin Programme, which allows the regulatory work

carried out at headquarters to be coordinated with work in the field. Origin-linked quality

products are a promising tool for food security, they open up wider outlets, especially for

small-scale producers. They crystallize a partnership between local natural conditions and

know-how in a sustainable intensification of production, most often in connection with local

varieties and breeds, thereby contributing to the preservation of biodiversity. With the

globalization of markets, these differentiated products are capitalized on in niche markets,

while ensuring positive effects at the local level in terms of income and employment. Food

security is also boosted by maintaining these local networks. The positioning of these clearly

differentiated products also provides guarantees and transparency for consumers thanks to the

existence of specifications and quality controls. Such an approach helps to foster a system of

sustainable production and consumption.

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Presentations

In order to go deeper into the issues and stimulate discussion, three speakers (see annex 3)

described the experience of their countries in developing GIs in the framework of the support

provided by FAO.

GIs as a tool for sustainable local development in Morocco: their place in the Green

Morocco Plan

In 2008, the Moroccan Government set up a new strategic framework for developing its

agriculture, the Green Morocco Plan. Under the first component, intensification and access to

major markets by a competitive agriculture are the focus of its efforts. In the second, the focus

is on supporting small-scale family farming in order to improve families’ well-being in rural

areas. The development of terroir products is included in this second component and

mobilizes considerable resources under the Green Morocco Plan, as this is a priority for the

Moroccan Government.

The progress achieved since 2008 in protecting and optimizing terroir products in Morocco

has been rapid and spectacular. FAO has been involved through two projects, one dedicated to

institution-building and finalization of the legal framework, and the other to supporting a

value chain in optimizing its terroir product, Taliouine saffron, in the arid mountains of the

Anti-Atlas.

As a practical demonstration of the value-creating potential of the GI tool, Prof. Kenny

pointed out that the price of Taliouine saffron had increased fivefold since the start of the

process of obtaining GI recognition, while the selling price of argan rose from 50 to

220 dirhams per kilogram. In the case of both saffron and argan oil, Morocco’s experience

has shown that the promotion process has considerably boosted job creation and slowed the

rural exodus. The involvement of young people in optimization activities through

cooperatives and small and medium-sized enterprises has led to renewed confidence in the

potential of agriculture in mountain and oasis areas.

The example of Taliouine saffron is remarkable in that the GI enabled every category of

small-scale producer, together with local traders and communities, to be involved in the

optimization process, moving beyond the earlier model organized around a single

cooperative, which was left to its own devices in its training and marketing efforts. FAO’s

technical support has been crucial in mobilizing local and national skills within government,

the private sector and civil society in order to build an exemplary model of local development

that is now being duplicated in other regions of Morocco.

The promotion process begun in 2008 under the Green Morocco Plan has been stepped up

particularly in the past two years by the carrying out of exhaustive inventories of products

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whose quality is linked to their origin in 16 of the country’s regions. More than 150 such

products have been identified as a result, and the most important of these were the subject of

an illustrated publication. Eleven products have already been officially registered with a GI

and four are in the process of registration. The aim is to develop entire value chains that are

properly coordinated with commercial outlets in Morocco and abroad.

To illustrate what can be achieved as a result in terms of commercial development, argan is

the prime example of successful optimization following the move to codification and

certification of quality. This product, which is the symbol of a whole region, mobilized the

body of local traditional know-how and made it possible to promote women’s empowerment

in rural areas. The experience to date has led to the development of a participatory approach

for developing such products, starting with a given product on a small scale and in a clearly

defined territory, then gradually expanding to all the zones associated with this product.

Brazil: the role of a GI in gaining recognition of specific knowledge and preserving a

cultural heritage through the example of Sataré Mawé guarana

Brazil has also been carrying out a very interesting experiment in implementing GIs as a tool

for preserving and promoting the country’s great biological, but also cultural and ethnic,

diversity. The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply has placed a

priority on encouraging signs of quality, especially GIs, which provide protection in terms of

intellectual property.

The Ministry of Agriculture provides technical support to value chains in registering their GIs

and in training, carrying out studies etc. Some of the goals are to boost the attraction of rural

regions, guarantee product quality, develop job prospects, especially for young people in rural

areas, and preserve biodiversity and local culinary resources.

The case of guarana, the pilot product of an FAO regional project, is extremely interesting.

Warana, as it is called in the language of the indigenous Sataré-Mawé people, is a plant that

was domesticated by their ancestors in the heart of central Amazonia some two thousand

years ago and is closely bound up with the history of the tribe. The very meaning of the word

warana is “the beginning of knowledge” and the Sataré-Mawé consider themselves its

children. The product has mystical and religious significance and also represents the tribe’s

main economic activity. Production methods in the region of its historical origin are very

specific. Seed is collected in the native forest, and seedlings are selected and cultivated

according to traditional knowledge. Processing techniques are also ancestral and are similar to

those for coffee, up to the preparation of a hardened stick of warana, which is then ground to

powder for consumption, Warana may be used as an ingredient in many processed products,

for example drinks. The basic product is warana powder. The plant has many properties, but

is basically a medicinal plant with energizing properties.

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With the development of very popular carbonated drinks with guarana, this product has

unfortunately been imitated, with deviations from its traditional mode of production.

Traditionally produced warana is imitated by powder from other regions produced by

simplified methods, which is then sold under the same name. In such a situation, definition of

the authentic production methods for warana and implementation of controls are extremely

important issues. The GI tool is hence very appropriate for protecting not only consumers, but

also the indigenous producers themselves, against such usurpation.

For warana producers, the GI is a means of obtaining official recognition of the specificity of

their product and its link to their unique culture, thereby distinguishing it from other types of

guarana. In this perspective, the GI is a tool for ethnic development, helping to keep young

people in their ancestral zone, maintaining the area’s attractions and benefiting the marketing

of other existing products (honey, plant extracts, cassava flour etc.).

As a pilot exercise, this project provided experience of close collaboration among the

National Institute of Industrial Property, the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Indian

Foundation (the institution responsible for indigenous peoples’ rights and their support), and

also producers, the Sataré-Mawé indigenous people and farmers in the zone, in order to

design the best strategy to optimize the product and support warana registration.

Guinea: the importance of identification and qualification of origin-linked quality products

in Africa for local development: the example of an inventory in the Kindia region

Sub-Saharan Africa has very great potential with regard to traditional products, that’s why GI

tool can contribute to local development in Africa.

The countries belonging to the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) decided to

promote origin-linked products, especially with the protection of geographical names, in their

development strategies. The French Development Agency provided an initial stimulus by

financing the Support for the Establishment of Geographical Indications Project (PAMPIG),

which had the aim of building the capacities not only of the institutions responsible for

implementing the agreement of the 16 OAPI members on intellectual property, but also of the

ministries supporting action by producers, i.e. those responsible for agriculture and rural

development. Four products, including one from Guinea (Ziama coffee), were selected for

special support in developing GI processes as pilot projects for a practical implementation

phase.

Following the regional seminar organized by FAO and OAPI in December 2011, which

showed the advantages of such optimization processes for origin-linked quality products in

Africa, especially in Guinea, FAO provided support for the identification of such products in

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the Kindia region in the framework of the Food Security through Commercialization of

Agriculture Project (PISA) financed by Italian cooperation.

The aims of this project in the Kindia region are to carry out a systematic inventory in three

prefectures (Kindia, Forécariah and Coyah) of local products that are promising in terms of

their typicity, using FAO methodology and the associated online tool, and to determine which

products have the greatest potential in terms of link to terroir in order to receive targeted

support for a process of optimizing their GI through their enhancement and qualification. The

NGO Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and the

Guinean Institute of Agricultural Research have been mobilized for this task, sending

researchers into the field to carry out surveys among the local people.

Of the 59 promising products that were identified as originating in the three prefectures, 29

were selected for further examination regarding their link to terroir. After this first study, 12

products showed excellent potential in terms of origin-linked quality. A second in-depth study

focusing on their economic potential is now under way. Based on the results of this second

study (the analysis and profile generated by the tool), the definitive selection of products to be

offered support for enhancement and qualification will be made during a seminar with all the

partners in the region in July 2012. Several origin-linked quality products will also be

presented at the Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre in Turin, Italy, in October 2012, both

organized by Slow Food. Consumers’ tastes are now working to the advantage of these

products, which are much sought after in Guinea and beyond. For example, the Belle de

Guinée potato is now well-known and has already been protected with a trademark.

Questions

About Brazilian presentation:

A traceability system has been developed in New Zealand. How are GI products protected

and traceability ensured in Brazil?

Reply:

Controls on GI products in Brazil are still in the embryonic stage, and problems of usurpation

have to be addressed through recourse to the courts. Specific legislation is currently being set

up, but it will be some time before it comes into effect.

It has been also precised that in New Zealand the market was already established, and on the

producers’ initiative questions of traceability focused on origin, in view of unfair competition

from fruit that was appearing on the North American market as coming from New Zealand.

Work on traceability is expensive and is the responsibility of producers, but was necessary for

the latter’s protection on markets.

Sri-Lanka: Warana is a product dating back several thousand years, so how can it be

protected when it has become so generic?

Reply:

The name warana has become generic (guarana), so protection will be made specific by

associating it with the name of the indigenous people’s territory from which it comes, thus

“Sataré Mawé Warana”. With regard to controls, during qualification of the product

(preparation of its specifications), the control plan is also discussed with the local people to

ensure that all the characteristics are indeed present for the product bearing the GI.

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Who is in charge of the GI process, and how and where do you see possibilities for

developing a market?

Reply:

The producers themselves are the owners of their GI and they formed an organization,

initially to manage its establishment through the formulation of specifications, and then to

supervise their application. Other international donors are supporting indigenous warana

producers, who already have organic and fair trade certification and represent a Slow Food

Presidium, which enables them to sell on these markets in western Europe. Marketing the

product with added value is not a problem for them. With the economic crisis in Europe, they

are seeking to diversify their markets, focusing on the national market, which is yet to be

developed, and the ministry is now supporting this move through promotional activities.

About Moroccan presentation:

The case of saffron demonstrates a significant economic impact from the GI process, with in

particular an increase in added value. What do terroir products represent in market terms?

Reply:

Terroir products have their place on niche markets, and in export terms this means

conquering markets niche by niche. Argan is a good example here: argan is now well

established on the cosmetics market in the wake of the development of natural cosmetics in

Europe. The food market offers fresh prospects for producers, but development must be

gradual. The market share can in general be estimated at between 10 and 40 percent. In the

case of saffron, the 1 600 producers organized into cooperatives and/or associations market

40 percent of production bearing the AOP label, through networks that are better controlled

than previously.

The importance of cooperatives in the saffron value chain is clear, but are they the best form

of collective organization for the GI?

Reply:

When it comes to organizing stakeholders and collective action, cooperatives or associations

spring to mind. Cooperatives are not always the most appropriate form in a given context. In

the case of saffron, a third form was established, which represents a very promising

alternative in terms of organization for GIs: economic interest groups, which enable

stakeholders in the value chain concerned to join together to define and manage their GI

strategy, whether they are individual enterprises or cooperatives, and whether they are

involved in production or marketing. Experience with argan oil and saffron has shown that so

far as forms of organization are concerned, it is wise to maintain flexibility and diversify the

forms adopted so as to take account of the social realities of the geographical areas involved

with the product and avoid excluding any link in the value chain.

The representative of Sri Lanka referred to the experience of her country with regard to

major GIs such as Ceylon tea and cinnamon, stressing that in the case of GIs intellectual

property rights are not individual but belong to the State and require the involvement of the

whole profession through their organization. The Ceylon tea and cinnamon GIs are protected

under trademark rules, whereas in other countries GIs are protected by specific systems. She

raised the issue of international protection, since there are no standardized systems.

Reply:

The protection provided by the state both nationally and internationally is essential, and said

that, given the differences in approach among countries, it would be helpful to have an

authority like the Codex, which allows standards common to different countries to be

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established with regard to health security. Further progress is needed in this direction, while

recognizing the primary responsibility of the state. The officer from FAO’s Development Law

Service who was present in the room then stated that FAO has given its support regarding the

legal framework for protecting GIs, particularly in Morocco and Tunisia, taking into account

the protection systems existing in export markets, so as to ensure possible mutual recognition

among systems.

About Guinean presentation:

The GI belongs to a collectivity and not an individual, so does this not entail a risk that the

name could become generic? What does OAPI state in this regard?

Reply:

The African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), of which Guinea is one of 16 member

countries, was set up in 1977 by what is known as the Bangui Agreement. OAPI serves as a

national industrial property service for each of its members, while the Bangui Agreement,

which constitutes their common law, contains a framework for the promotion, optimization

and protection of products of local origin and quality, in line with the 1994 TRIPS

agreements. OAPI’s action is assured in the member countries by national liaison structures.

Annex VI of the Bangui Agreement was modified to broaden the definition, and since then

the term “geographical indication” has replaced “appellation of origin”, in line with the

TRIPS agreements. In 1999, the Bangui Agreement was revised to bring it into line with the

1994 TRIPS agreements. This annex specifies that the GI is a collective right or a heritage,

the regulations for which are entrusted to an organization holding it and over which the state

has a right of oversight regarding its use. And it is essential for the optimization of origin-

linked quality, and not a limiting factor, that the specific product be sustained by collective

action.

Origin-linked quality: a tool for sustainable development?

These three experiences illustrate different possible contribution of GI processes to local

sustainable development, although in some projects time is short to assess yet concrete

results.

GIs in Morocco have turned out to be a powerful tool for local development: by initially

focusing on optimization of a high-profile product and on a group of motivated producers, the

first effects allow the dynamic to be rapidly extended to a whole region in order not only to

optimize other terroir products but also to develop services.

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The Brazilian example testifies to the potential of GIs to preserve biological and cultural

diversity in South America, inasmuch as indigenous rural people can now protect themselves

against illicit use and imitation of their endemic resources, and obtain significant sources of

revenue from the sale of these products. This boosts local economic capacity in a globalized

world where it is often hard for these disadvantaged people, lacking the necessary commercial

weapons, to defend themselves against competition.

In Guinea, the identification of origin-linked products is a key and indispensable first step in

order to mobilize in a participative way the local stakeholders in the definition of the

territorial strategy based on local resources. The FAO methodology on inventory allows

assessing the local potentials in terms of the product (specific quality), but also in terms of

market and of capacity/willingness of local stakeholders to engage themselves in collective

action. This point is crucial to ensure a bottom up process which benefit to local people

according to their needs and their objectives.

These three examples demonstrate the diversity of approaches, taking the different contexts

into account:

• a targeted, local approach in the case of the inventory of products in Guinea, which

will lead to support for several value chains in obtaining recognition of their GI

product and marketing it;

• an ambitious national scheme in Morocco, linked to the agricultural policy and the

strategic plan that has been developed, which allows mechanisms for identification

and optimization to be replicated in all the country’s regions, with a mobilization of

human and financial resources by the government;

• a pilot approach in Brazil, focusing on a sample product in order to try out a system of

coordination among various national institutions, in association with local

stakeholders.

Some common points also emerge:

• the support of public actors, in the broadest sense (ministries of agriculture, local

government, research and development centres, local public stakeholders etc.): these

form a network of external support, providing scientific, financial or technical support

to the value chains concerned, depending on stage and needs;

• within this support network, the major role of the agricultural sector, especially the

ministry of agriculture and its decentralized services, for the support of technical

aspects, marketing and organization;

• collective organization: stakeholders in the value chain at the local level are at the

heart of the approach and ensure its viability; without their involvement, the product

cannot be defined, its specifications cannot be applied and the product cannot be

optimized and marketed with a GI; the projects show the importance of a local

collective organization for their success;

• the market is taken into account from the start of the process (identification of

potential, how/on what market the terroir product should be optimized etc.); this is

vital for ensuring the sustainable effects associated with the specific quality, both in

economic terms (viability of the system thanks to sufficient remuneration, covering

production costs) and also in environmental and social terms.

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Conclusion

The side event generated great interest among the participants, both with regard to the

discovery of terroir products during the tasting, and also with regard to discussions during the

session.

These processes to optimize origin-linked quality are relatively recent and have some

promising potential for contributing to sustainable development through their economic,

social and environmental dimensions. The three examples from Morocco, Brazil and Guinea

have shown how countries can develop strategies suited to their particular situation.

FAO supports such processes on the request of its members and makes these methodological

tools available in order to optimize the positive impact on sustainable development and food

security.

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Annexes

Annex 1: Presentation of some programme activities and results

Since 2007 the programme has been based on two fundamental principles: first, the development and

dissemination of knowledge at headquarters, and, second, technical support on the ground in response

to countries’ requests.

With regard to field projects, the location of beneficiary countries showed their link with the regional

seminars held in the major world regions. First, in the countries of North Africa, national projects were

developed in Morocco and Tunisia in the framework of FAO’s Technical Cooperation Programme

(TCP). Then in Latin America, this time as part of a TCP regional project, projects were developed

with six countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru). Southern Europe saw a

project launched in Croatia, this time as part of a project financed by FAO and the European Bank for

Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). A regional programme in Asia will be launched in

collaboration with the French Development Agency in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

Support activities concerning origin-linked quality are also under way in Africa, in collaboration with

Italian trust funds for support to marketing, one in collaboration with Slow Food in Guinea-Bissau,

Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone (see the publications at the entrance), the other for carrying out an

inventory of products originating in the Kindia region of Guinea, as Marie Antoinette Haba has

described. Other projects are in preparation, for example in Benin, following the last regional seminar

for Africa, which brought a dozen French-speaking countries together. Lastly, evaluation missions

have been carried out in various countries.

With regard to the component concerning the development and dissemination of knowledge, it should

be stressed that it has benefited from opportunities for exchange and discussion with stakeholders in

the various countries through the regional seminars organized in collaboration with national and/or

regional partners.

The most widely known of the publications is the guide to sustainable GIs, which is very popular and

has not only been translated into English, French and Spanish, thanks to the involvement of our

partners or in the framework of projects, but now exists in Chinese, thanks to the Chinese

Government, is being published in Portuguese, thanks to the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, and is

anticipated in Croatian, Farsi and Serbian.

The most recent publication concerns the methodology of identification and participatory inventories,

accompanied by an online tool, as can be seen in a demonstration film at the entrance to the room. It

has been tried out a number of times, particularly in Morocco in collaboration with Lahcen Kenny,

and is now being used in several projects, for example in Guinea. The online tool can be used to

identify the presence of an origin-linked quality, and in such a case to determine its strengths and

weaknesses in order to develop an optimization process, while also providing points for reflection and

action, according to the profile that is generated.

Lastly, more than 20 case studies from various regions, carried out for the various seminars that were

organized, have been disseminated, and others are to come, especially to disseminate the results of the

pilot cases carried out as part of the regional project in Latin America, which include Sataré Mawé

warana.

All these publications and information on field projects are available on the Internet at

www.foodquality-origin.org

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Annex 2: Programme of the session

FAO Side Event at 23

rd COAG

Tuesday 22 May, 17:30-19:00, Iran room

Origin-linked Quality: a tool for sustainable Development? Morocco, Brazil and Guinea

present their experience

In French, English and Spanish

******

17.30 : Come and see our publications and try some typical food products from Morocco, Guinea,

Sierra Leone, Brazil, France, and Italy.

17.45: Opening

• HE Mrs Bérengère Quincy, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of France to FAO

• Mr. Modibo Traoré, Assistant Director General, Agriculture Department of FAO

17.55: Presentations of Countries experience, introduced by the Project coordinator, Emilie

Vandecandelaere:

• Role of geographical indications (GIs) in the sustainable development in Morocco: their

place in the Plan Maroc Vert (“Green Morocco”), Lahcen Kenny, Institut Agronomique et

Vétérinaire Hassan II and AgroTech Director

• Brazil: importance of preserving heritage and culture linked to an origin-linked

product: the example of the « guarana of Satawé Mahé », Beatriz de Assis Junqueira,

Coordinator for geographical indications for agricultural products at Ministry of

agriculture, livestock and supply

• Guinea: quality linked to geographical origin, an interesting potential for African

countries, and the importance of origin-linked products identification, the case of

Kindia region, Marie Antoinette Haba, GI focal point at Ministry of agriculture

18.30: Discussion

19. Closing remarks followed by the tasting of traditional products

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Annex 3: Presentation of speakers

Lahcen Kenny is a lecturer and researcher at the Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary

Sciences and Director of the Souss Massa Drâa Agrotech Association, which is involved in local

development of the Souss Massa Drâa region. He coordinated the FAO project concerning Taliouine

saffron.

Beatriz de Assis Junqueira is Coordinator for Geographical Indications for Agricultural Products at

Ministry of agriculture, working in close collaboration with the National Institute of Intellectual

Property, the authority in charge of registering GIs.

Marie Antoinette Haba is the GI Focal Point in the Ministry of Agriculture, she is also the local

coordinator of the inventory work now being carried out with FAO support.