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Walter Chivasa is CIMMYT’s maize seed systems coordinator for Africa. He is responsible for co-developing and executing CIMMYT’s maize seed scaling strategies, managing and developing strategic partnerships, and implementing activities to promote the effectiveness and impacts of CIMMYT products in sub-Saharan Africa. This entails driving and documenting the impact of CIMMYT-derived varieties, contributing to the sustainability, profitability, and growth of seed company partners, and ultimately bringing the benefits of improved and affordable maize seed to smallholder farmers, who face wide-ranging constraints in sub-Saharan Africa.

Chivasa supervises scientists working to improve maize seed systems efficiency through the generation of seed production data, assisting partners in the design and implementation of seed road maps, including inbred line maintenance, production of early generation seed of CIMMYT-derived varieties, and extensive on-farm testing through a network of partners in order to accelerate the deployment of improved varieties.