| Sumario: | Varietal turnover (VTO) - the timely replacement of old seed
varieties with newer, improved ones - remains a challenge
for Tanzania’s agricultural productivity, especially for openpollinated
crops such as common beans, groundnuts, and
sorghum. Despite clear benefits of improved varieties,
including yield gains of more than 50%, better disease
resistance, and higher income potential, adoption rates
remain low. Tanzania’s predominantly informal seed
system, where over 97% of planting material is sourced
from farmer-saved seeds or grain markets, contributes
to this slow uptake, with the average age of bean varieties
on the market reaching 20 years in 2020. The Accelerated
Varietal Turnover of Open-Pollinated Crops (ACCELERATE)
project, led by the Alliance of Bioversity International
and CIAT/PABRA in collaboration with CIMMYT, TARI, and
TOSCI, and funded by the Gates Foundation, aims to tackle
these systemic barriers.
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