The evolution of the maize seed industry in Zambia

This article outlines the development of maize improvement and the symbiotic seed industry in Zambia over the past seventy‐five years. Although improvement through selection was started in the 1920s, the first locally bred cultivars were not available until 1970. The development of a maize seed industry in Zambia has been remarkable considering the inhibitions imposed by successive government policies of colonialism, federalism and socialist economics. The future of maize breeding and the seed industry depends on the success of recently introduced free‐market economic policies, and on the introduction of legislation to protect the rights of plant breeders and allow full participation by private seed companies.

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Respectively, Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of Zimbabwe; and Agricultural Research and Development Consultant, Umhlanga Rocks, South Africa.