Geographical indications in Africa: A case study from Senegal

Considered as part of the intellectual property rights and resulted from the world trade organisation's Urugay Round agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), Geographical Indications (GIs) are products whose quality is associated with a certain geographical place giving them reputation and specific characteristics. GI system is internationally recognised as an important tool for rural development with concerns about its economic, social and environmental opportunities. In this study, practices towards GIs in the world were viewed in the theoretical and practical framework, and within the scope of African countries legislations and current situations of GIs were examined based on OAPI and ARIPO regional agreements. From the researchs, it was found that Africa has an important potential products for GIs. However, due to insufficient legal regulations and scientific works many of their products are not registered, and consequently the advantages from GIs could not be taken. Another subject of the study is to evaluate potentials for GIs of local products selected in Senegal and place these products in the priority order. In measuring potentials for GIs of these products, data were collected through a questionnaire regarding to 7 evaluation criterias (link with the region, existence and power of producers organization, recognition, contribution to local development, marketability, export potential and analyzability) and analyzed with Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. As a result of the analysis, the products with the highest chance of success for GIs based on the criterias are Niayes onion (3,847), Mango kent (3,396), Kazamans honey (3,080), Kazamans madd (2,935), Yett Senegal (2,361), Kus-kus Fajut (2,323) and Fonyon Senegal (2.244).