The overall aim of the breeding program is to produce multi-disease resistant varieties that will meet grower and merchant requirements in a manner that ensures limited use of chemicals, is environmentally friendly and reduces production costs in the various growing regions of the country and beyond.
The Plant Breeding Division seeks to promote profitable and sustainable tobacco farming through:
Station | Town | GPS coordinates | Purpose |
---|---|---|---|
Kutsaga Research Station | Harare | Mostly flue cured breeding trials | |
Banket Research Station | Banket | Mostly Burley, Cigar wrapper, Dark Fire/Air tobaccos and rotational grass trials | |
Makoholi Research Station | Masvingo | Mostly Oriental tobaccos and marginal testing site for drought tolerance and high temperatures |
Farmer | District and farm name | Type of trials | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | J. Kageller | Tengwe (Oldonyo Farm) | Cooperative Cultivar trials and Variety Demonstration plots |
2 | C.Aitchenson | Doma (Impala Downs) | Cooperative Cultivar trials and Variety Demonstration plots |
3 | P. Dupropolis | Catherine Valley farm (Odzi) | Demonstration plots |
4 | L. Guild | Burma Valley (Mapeto) | Cooperative Cultivar trials and Variety Demonstration plots |
5 | N. Mostart | Trelawney (Stockfields) | Cooperative Cultivar trials and Variety |
6 | B. Stockil | Mutoko South (Kent farm) | Cooperative Cultivar trials and Variety Demonstration plots |
7 | A. Manda | Hwedza (Chakadenga farm) | Cooperative Cultivar trials and Variety Demonstration plots |
8 | D. Mutwiwa | Headlands (Terrydan farm) | Cooperative Cultivar trials and Variety Demonstration plots |
8 | D. Mutwiwa | Rusape (Valhalla farm) | Cooperative Cultivar trials and Variety Demonstration plots |
9 | C. Denga | Mt Darwin (Chaminuka Training College) | Variety Demonstration plots |
10 | Scion van Rensburg | Matepatepa (Piedmont farm) | Cooperative Cultivar trials and Variety Demonstration plots |
11 | S. Gwaze | Guruve (Tapiwanashe farm) | Cooperative Cultivar trials and Variety Demonstration plots |
12 | M. Ludik | Acturus (Ludik farm) | Soil borne disease trials |
Farmer field variety discussion at Tapiwanashe farm in Guruve district
A number of countries prefer some variety bred from Zimbabwe and also rely on the expertise of TRB. There are active programs to breed varieties for these countries and agronomic testing is both integral and mandatory for release in these countries.
Organisation | Country | Type of tobacco |
---|---|---|
Tobacco Board of Zambia | Zambia | Flue cured |
Agricultural Research and extension Trust | Malawi | Flue cured and Burley |
Mozambique Leaf Tobacco | Mozambique | Dark Air and Dark Fire |
Tobacco Research Institute of Tanzania | Tanzania | Flue cured |
National Tobacco Enterprise of Ethiopia | Ethiopia | Flue cured |
Rwanda Mountain Tea | Rwanda | Flue cured and Burley |
Dr Cleopas Chinheya (TRB Plant pathologist; in hat), Dr. Frank Magama (TRB Plant Breeder) with Mrs Magdalena Raphael, Plant Breeder for the Tobacco Research Institute of Tanzania inspecting variety trials in Tabora district of Tanzania
The Division undertakes bespoke and collaborative research for and with international partners involved in the global tobacco value chain. Agronomic trials are also conducted to adapt Kutsaga varieties in varied agroecological niches for the benefit of host countries. For more information on collaborations and testing Kutsaga-bred varieties please contact: fmagama@kutsaga.co.zw.
Organisation | Country | Type of tobacco |
---|---|---|
TRASFORMATORI TABACCO ITALIA Soc. Coop. Agricola | Italy | Flue cured |
ProfiGen do Brasil Ltda | Brazil | Flue cured and Burley |
Bergerac Seed and Breeding | France | Dark Air and Dark Fire |
Japan Tobacco International | Japan | Flue cured and Burley |
CORESTA | France | Flue cured and Burley |
Mr. Enoch Mudzengere (TRB plant breeder) inspecting variety trials in Yuxi district of China
Scientists from Japan Tobacco visiting the collaborative Potato Virus Y (PVY) trial at Kutsaga Research Station, Harare, Zimbabwe. From left: Drs.- Paolo Donini,Christelle Bonnert, Hisashi Udagawa and Koga Kazuharu.
Dr Anna Malpica (Plant Breeder, Bergerac Seed and Breeding Co, France) inspecting the local trial version of the global low nicotine trials with Dr Frank Magama and Mr Ralph Ruzane at Banket Research Station in Zimbabwe.
Tobacco Research Board has bred over 80 varieties of different strains of tobacco since its inception. It also has a world class collection of tobacco germplasm (old varieties, primitive tobacco, wild species, breeding lines, landraces etc.) with over 1000 accessions collected all over the world. See table below for the recent cultivars in production.
Note: Click on the variety for variety agronomic attributes (CAN WE IMBED THROUGH HYPERTEXT THE DEAR GROWERS FOR EACH VARIETY??). The table is not exhaustive, please email fmagama@kutsaga.co.zw to request older varieties, wild species and further variety information.
Flue cured | Burley | Oriental | Dark tobacco | Nematode suppressing grass varieties |
---|---|---|---|---|
K110 | Banket 127 | Samsun | KDAC 008 | Katambora Rhodes Grass |
KM10 | Banket A1 | O RK1 | KDFC 010 | G HR1 |
K RK 1 | Banket 102 | KDFC 070 | ||
K RK6 | B RK1 | KDFC 086 | ||
K RK8 | B RK2 | KDFC 100 | ||
K30 | B RK3 | |||
K30R | B RK4 | |||
K34 | B RK5 | |||
K35 | B RK6 | |||
K36 | B RK7 | |||
K37 | ||||
K40 | ||||
K RK22 | ||||
K RK23 | ||||
K RK26R | ||||
K RK28 | ||||
KRK29 | ||||
T60 | ||||
T61 | ||||
K RK62 | ||||
K RK64 | ||||
T65 | ||||
K RK66 | ||||
K RK70 | ||||
K RK71 | ||||
K RK72 | ||||
K RK73 | ||||
K RK74 | ||||
K RK75 | ||||
K RK76 | ||||