African agriculture has been suffering from a lack of funding since the 90s, when African governments withdrew from investing in the agricultural sector. So, to boost growth in the agricultural sector, it makes sense to find other financing mechanisms. To this end, the present study focuses on plant varieties as a means of financing agriculture in Africa. This raises the question of how plant varieties can be used to finance agriculture. There are two possible solutions to this question: direct exploitation and indirect exploitation of plant varieties. Direct exploitation of plant varieties takes the form of seed production contracts, co-ownership, pledging, partnership contributions, the breeder's right to remuneration, and damages arising from infringement proceedings. And the indirect exploitation of plant varieties covers the assignment of plant variety certificates, the granting of licenses, non-voluntary licenses and the use of plant varieties in the public domain.