Light Years points the way for sub-Saharan IP growth

The Guardian relates that poor African farmers can boost export revenues from agriculture by billions of dollars if they use intellectual property as part of their business plans, according to a report by Washington-based non-profit organisation Light Years IP. This report focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, identifying some 14 products that could generate an average increase of 230 to 350 percent in income that could be ploughed back into developing countries' economies. Among the products researched were Kenyan tea, Sudanese cotton, Ethiopian fine coffee, Malian mudcloth (left) and Ethiopian leather.