Constraints to release of crop varieties to farmers Lack of effective variety release system The long delay between variety development, registration and release Lack of good coordination among National Varity Release Committee (NVRCs) NVRCs meet only once a year Rigidity of seed laws The use of data from other countries with similar agro-ecology is limited National variety lists are not updated regularly Lack of PBRs which discourages private seed companies from introducing their products Limited involvement of private sector in some countries

Strategies to enhance release of varieties Development of PBRs in each country: royalties Regional harmonization of seed laws: similar agro-ecologies, mega-environments Promoting the use of data from other countries: recommendation domain Simplification of variety testing, only important VCU and DUS information would be required, DUS testing should be conducted along with METs to shorten time of variety release Breeders’ own data should be used to support variety release thereby eliminating the need for NPTs Breeders should embark on limited breeder seed production and marketing Governments should develop variety release guidelines in some NVRC meets regularly and that funds are made available for the meetings