Agri-food: the “Madd” of Casamance obtains worldwide recognition

Wonderful news for Senegal. “Madd” from Casamance and pepper from Penja, in Cameroon, received their international registration certificate on Thursday, August 20, at the headquarters of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. This is a first for the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) area.

Recognized and protected by their countries of origin, then within OAPI, and distinguished by the Commission of the European Union, these two exceptional products now join the world heritage of protected geographical indications (PGI). Above all, they become the very first PGIs in the OAPI area registered under the Lisbon system.

This recognition crowns nearly twenty years of efforts, according to a press release from OAPI. “From the Ouagadougou Declaration in 2005 to the Ministerial Conference on the International Protection of Geographical Indications, held in Abidjan in 2022, OAPI has continued to work to have the geographical indications of its member States recognized,” the document states.

However, underlines the same source, “it is its accession, on December 15, 2022, to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement relating to the international registration of geographical indications which makes this double first possible today”.

Through this historic event, African potential is highlighted. Producers are called upon to take advantage of these new protection tools to promote and promote their products throughout the world, while waiting for many other geographical indications on the continent to, in turn, follow the path of the Lisbon system.