Sri Lanka is an agricultural country. In the face of growing scarcity of land, water and emerging challenges of climate change, productivity gain in agriculture is the option available to increase agricultural output in the country. Productivity improvement should be achieved by introducing new technology generated through sustained investments. A well-established Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) system will help to encourage innovations, technology transfers, product development, development of new plant varieties, etc.
In this backdrop, the objectives of this study are to identify the best possible protection method for new plant varieties and farmers’ traditional knowledge in Sri Lanka, focusing mainly on the seed paddy sector. Further, to propose feasible techniques and methods to enhance productivity and investments in the agriculture sector by implementing a strong intellectual property rights system.