Viv Anthony Mauritius, 2 February 2018 Pan Africa Educators DLB Leadership Meeting Study on variety performance legal and regulatory requirements for release Viv Anthony Mauritius, 2 February 2018

DLB and variety release African governments’ policies on agricultural productivity Demand led traits without yield improvement- will there be issues for variety release ? Is yield a legal or regulatory requirement for national variety release?  

Target countries (completed) West Africa Nigeria Ghana East, central, south Kenya Uganda Rwanda Tanzania Malawi South Africa

Variety Performance Requirements and Criteria for Release (PRC) Country Are PR&C legal requirements or process interpreted by release officials? Is yield an explicit regulatory pre-requisite for variety release? Kenya No Uganda Yes Rwanda Tanzania No …..but “NPT-TC considers yield before it advises the NVRC on the release of a variety”

Performance Requirements and Criteria for Release of a New Variety Country Are PR&C legal requirements or process interpreted by release officials? Is yield an explicit regulatory pre-requisite for variety release? Malawi Yes, but discretionary Yield is considered under the ATCC Guidelines South Africa Only DUS test data No variety release commitee No Nigeria NO but…Guidelines for Registration and Release of New Crop Varieties in Nigeria … yield improvement is named as the primary reason for breeding a new crop variety

Performance Requirements and Criteria for Release of a New Variety Country Are PR&C legal requirements or process interpreted by release officials? Is yield an explicit regulatory pre-requisite for variety release? Ghana Yes No regulation yet...but National Seed Council of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, for yam and cassava varieties, ‘yield at harvest’ is considered

Target countries (TBD) West Africa Burkina Faso Mali Niger Senegal Sierra Leone East, central, south Ethiopia Mozambique Zambia Zimbabwe