70
6.3 Low Rates of Variety Turnover and Agricultural
Research and Development Investment in ESA
Despite the growth of the seed industry in ESA since the 1990s, rates of variety
turnover remain slow, and investment into agricultural research and development is
extremely low. A handful of established varieties also continue to dominate markets
in most countries (Abate et al. 2017). In Kenya, H614D (a variety released in 1986
by the state parastatal) accounts for over 40% of area cultivated to improved maize
varieties while in Zambia, the three most widely grown maize varieties were
released almost two decades ago, shortly after the deregulation of the seed sector
(Smale and Olwande 2014; Smale et  al. 2015). The average age of commercial
0
5
10
15
20
25
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
Number of Varieties Released
Official variety releases in Zambia since 1970 (4 key crops)
Maize
Sorghum
Beans
Cassava
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
Number of Varieties Released
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
1970
1972
1974
Official variety releases in Kenya since 1970 (4 key crops)
Maize
Sorghum
Beans
Cassava
a
b
Fig. 6.2 (a) Annual releases for maize, sorghum, common bean and cassava varieties in Zambia
since 1970. (Source: SCCI 2017). (b) Annual releases for maize, sorghum, common bean and cassava varieties in Kenya since 1970 (KEPHIS 2017)
B. Das et al.