Online Reporter
Sikhulekelani Moyo [email protected]
ZIMBABWE is strengthening its seed testing and variety release system as plant breeders and regulators undergo specialised training aimed at ensuring that new crop varieties reaching farmers are productive, climate-resilient and suited to local conditions.
A two-day capacity-building workshop, which began yesterday at Cresta Lodge in Msasa, Harare, is bringing together 35 participants from public and private breeding institutions and the National Variety Release Committee (NVRC).
The training is focusing on value for cultivation and use (VCU), distinctiveness, uniformity and stability (DUS), data analysis and the preparation of variety release proposals.
Officially opening the workshop, chief director for the Directorate of Research, Education and Specialist Services (DRESS), Dr Dumisani Kutywayo, said Zimbabwe needed to ensure that its seed system kept pace with the changing climate.
“Climate change is no longer a distant theoretical threat; it is our lived reality,” said Dr Kutywayo.
He said crop breeding should increasingly focus on varieties capable of withstanding drought, heat, pests and diseases while maintaining productivity and market value.
The training comes as farmers continue to face erratic rainfall, mid-season dry spells, rising temperatures and changing pest and disease patterns.
Dr Kutywayo said modern breeding should therefore target traits such as drought and heat tolerance, disease resistance, nutrient-use efficiency, early maturity and improved nutritional quality.
Under Zimbabwe’s variety release system, candidate varieties undergo multi-location VCU trials for at least two seasons at a minimum of five sites in appropriate agro-ecological zones.
DUS testing is also conducted to establish whether a variety is genuinely distinct, uniform and stable.
Head of the Seed Services Institute, Mr Edmore Mtetwa, said the training was aimed at addressing knowledge and compliance gaps across the variety development and regulatory chain.
“The variety release system ensures that only distinct, uniform and stable varieties that have attained the required value for cultivation and use are registered and commercialised,” said Mr Mtetwa.
He said rigorous data collection was central to the process, with VCU trials requiring replicated experiments, statistical analysis and evidence on performance under relevant production constraints.
DUS descriptors, he added, provided an important quality assurance reference during subsequent seed multiplication and certification.
Once the required trials have been completed, breeders submit a detailed Variety Release Application to the National Designated Authority, the Seed Services Institute, which serves as the secretariat to the NVRC.
The committee then evaluates the evidence before deciding whether a candidate variety should be approved or rejected.
Successful varieties are registered on the national plant variety list and, where applicable, protected through Plant Breeders’ Rights.
The workshop is bringing breeders and regulators together to strengthen understanding of modern testing protocols, improve data management and integrity, identify bottlenecks in variety evaluation and explore harmonised regional release frameworks that can facilitate the wider movement of suitable varieties.
The training is being supported by the Horticulture Development Council (HDC), with experts drawn from the Seed Services Institute, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Agricultural Research Council (ARC), Zimbabwe Seed Association (ZSA) and Zimbabwe Plant Breeders Association (ZPBA).
The collaboration brings together public institutions, international research organisations, breeders and the seed industry, which play different roles in developing, testing, multiplying and distributing new varieties.
Zimbabwe’s seed system is supported by both public and private breeding programmes, while some commercial seed companies also access varieties from CGIAR centres and publicly funded research institutions through licensing arrangements.
The training comes as the country seeks to strengthen food security and build a climate-smart and competitive agricultural sector.
For farmers, the ultimate test of any new variety remains its performance under real production conditions, particularly when rainfall is erratic, temperatures rise and crops face increasing pest and disease pressure.
