Progene Seeds was initiated in 1999 in Zimbabwe with the sourcing and development of germplasm suitable for the SADC region. Currently Progene Seeds has an extremely aggressive breeding, research and testing program in the SADC region. Concurrently with the breeding program in Zimbabwe, breeding programs are underway in Zambia, South Africa and Nigeria to test material suitable for these regions. Progene Seeds breeds maize; open pollinated as well as hybrid as well as quality protein maize hybrids. Four extremely high yielding hybrids have been identified from this testing program so far with excellent characteristics.
It is our intention at Progene to target our commercial hybrids for specific farmer’s conditions as well as provide hybrids that have more broadly adapted material for our communal and regional farmers. The current hybrid parents already identified are currently being bulked in Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa as well as Nigeria and are awaiting release in these countries.
