A workshop on ‘Varietal release and national and regional
variety catalogs’ was held, 15–16 December, in Cotonou, to raise awareness of
rice breeders involved in the Africa Rice Breeding Task Force on issues
relating to variety testing, characterization, releases, cataloguing and
maintenance; breeder/foundation seed production; and harmonization of
descriptors. Presentations on the current status of variety release and
regional and national catalogs were made by AfricaRice, the Institut
du Sahel (INSAH)/ Comité
permanent Inter-État pour la Lutte contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS), UEMOA and CORAF/WECARD.
The participants noted that a major effort has been made in
West Africa regarding the harmonization of regulations relating to variety
release and seed certification over the past few years. The document was
adopted by ECOWAS in 2008 and by UEMOA in 2009. At the end of the workshop
detailed action plans were made for greater harmonization.
