Nagauri Pan Methi granted Patent under PPVFRA as Community Farmers' Variety

Key facts

• The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority (PPVFRA) formally granted a patent to Nagauri Pan Methi (Trigonella corniculata L.) under the community farmers' variety category.
• The patent registration was published in the February 2026 issue of the Plant Variety Journal, conferring statutory ownership and legal rights to the farming community of Nagaur district, Rajasthan.
• The community of farmers, represented by women farmer Geeta Devi, Pradhan of Panchayat Samiti Mundwa, is now the legally recognised custodian and rights holder of the variety.
• Nagauri Methi is cultivated exclusively on more than 7,000 hectares in the Rajasthan regions of Mundwa, Nagaur, Merta City, Jayal, Degana, and Khinvsar.
• During the 2024–25 season, farmers produced approximately 30,000 metric tonnes of dried leaves, generating a total income of around ₹450 crore.
• The South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under the Biotech Kisan Hub provided scientific and field-level evidence for the registration.
• The registration aims to protect farmers against biopiracy and is a primary step towards securing a Geographical Indication (GI) tag and food safety standards from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
• Technical support for the initiative was provided by the ICAR-National Research Centre on Seed Spices and the NABARD-supported Agri Export Facilitation Centre (AEFC).