There are very limited provisions for irrigation, largely on commercial farms. There is an increasing donor interest in supporting dam construction in village areas so as to improve the agricultural performance of resource poor farmers. There is a great desire to improve the agricultural performance of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe hybrid maize seed is grown in most of the SADC countries. The different hybrid varieties are now bulked and marketed by Seed Co., a local seed company.
Conventional plant breeding through pollen transfer is time consuming.
It generally takes about 10 years to fully develop an improved hybrid maize variety. Efficiencies in conventional breeding are only acquired from long experience in working with a particular crop. Total annual maize production in sub-Saharan Africa is 26 million tons of maize. This can be achieved by improving their management practices and access to the best available maize breeding technology. Biotechnology currently offers the best possible technology for increasing maize yields.