New 18 climate-smart seed varieties released 

Online Reporter

A total of eighteen seed varieties have been approved for release and production in Zimbabwe, with more focus given on productivity and resilience to counter climate change, a senior Government official has said.

Speaking after the presentation of the list of varieties by the Variety Release Panel, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development permanent secretary Professor Obert Jiri said the release is a major boost to the country’s rich pool of crop seed varieties that will aid the country’s efforts to achieve food security.

Prof Jiri said: “Eighteen varieties have been approved for release.

“What this means is, we have added more top notch varieties to our already rich pool of seeds.

“We are really excited as Government that we are working together with seed companies and breeders to ensure that we have appropriate climate-smart varieties for growing and for food security.”

Of the total approved varieties, Prof Jiri said, seven of them have been released by the Government itself.

“We have added four more cotton varieties and of those four, three are hybrid, which are high producers.

“We have also added from the Government a maize variety which is a medium season which is climate-smart. SIRDC has released varieties of rice which is very important because we import a lot of rice but now we have two varieties that are tailor-made and suitable for local production,” he said.

Prof Jiri said another new sunflower variety has also been released from other private seed houses.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, chief director in the Department of Research and Specialist Services, Dr Dumisani Kutywayo said the variety release panel had assessed the readiness of materials being brought in by breeders for release for cultivation. He said these innovations were meant to ensure food and nutrition security.

“We have seed companies that developed seed varieties which have been approved for registration and are going to be added to the available varieties for farmers to choose from as they seek to produce higher and good quality yields for food security.

“The release of some interspecific seed hybrids for the first time in Zimbabwe will go a long way in terms of import substitution as the country is currently importing expensive cotton hybrids that are being grown by some farmers. This involves expenditure of foreign currency which will be avoided with use of local varieties,” said Dr Kutywayo.

The seed varieties which were approved include maize, sorghum, millets, rice, soya beans, sunflower and cotton, among others.

The Variety Release Panel had the participation of both public and private sector representatives, which included seed companies like SeedCo, Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) and University of Zimbabwe (UZ) in collaboration with Vaka Nyika Company.