Benin has taken an important step towards strengthening its vegetable seed sector after scientists, regulators, and seed specialists completed advanced training in the evaluation and registration of new crop varieties.
Led by WorldVeg, the training focused on two internationally recognized evaluation systems – Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) testing and Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) testing – which help determine whether a new variety is suitable for registration and commercial release.
Participants included breeders from National Agricultural Research Institute (INRAB) and Universities, technical staff from Benin’s National Seed Services (SNS/DPV), and officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries. Through theoretical sessions and practical exercises, they learned how to design field trials, collect and analyze data, and apply DUS and VCU protocols required for the registration of new vegetable varieties including tomato, peppers, amaranth and okra.
Building this expertise within Benin could help shorten the path between the development of promising new varieties and their availability to farmers. WorldVeg and its partners have helped release dozens of improved vegetable varieties across West Africa in recent years, but getting future innovations into farmers’ hands depends on national systems capable of evaluating and approving them.
Dr. Malick Ba, WorldVeg Regional Director for West and Central Africa, said the training could help accelerate the progress of improved varieties from evaluation to market. “Strengthening national capacity for DUS and VCU trials is essential to increase and accelerate the market release of improved varieties and ensure farmers have access to high-quality seeds.”
Twin pillars of evaluation
Addressing participants, Dr. Marius Sinha, a national expert in plant variety protection and resource person for the National Plant Seed Committee, outlined procedures for registering new varieties in Benin, as well as for securing plant variety protection through the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), the regional intellectual property organization covering Benin and 16 other African countries. Together with practical training in DUS and VCU testing, this gave participants a clearer understanding of the process from evaluating a new variety to its registration and release.
That evaluation serves two important purposes: establishing that a variety is genuinely distinct and consistent, and determining whether it offers benefits under local growing conditions.
Read: The SafeVeg surge: West Africa celebrates biggest-ever boost in climate-smart vegetable varieties
DUS testing confirms that a variety is distinct from existing varieties, produces plants with uniform characteristics and remains stable over successive generations. These assessments help ensure that farmers, seed companies and regulators can be confident they are working with reliable planting material.
VCU testing, which is recommended but not mandatory for vegetables, goes a step further by assessing how a variety performs in farmers’ fields. Researchers evaluate characteristics such as yield, adaptation to local environments, resilience to environmental stresses and commercial quality to determine whether a variety offers meaningful advantages over those already available.
Together, the two systems form the backbone of modern variety registration and are widely used around the world to maintain the quality and integrity of national seed systems.
Timely training
For Benin, strengthening these technical capacities comes at an important time. Agriculture remains a cornerstone of the country’s economy, while climate change is placing increasing pressure on farming systems through rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and more frequent weather extremes. Improved crop varieties are expected to play an increasingly important role in helping farmers maintain productivity under these conditions.
But their impact depends on national systems that can accurately evaluate and approve promising new varieties. By strengthening the expertise of researchers and regulators responsible for these evaluations, the training aims to improve both the quality and efficiency of the variety registration process.
The training also contributes to Benin’s longer-term efforts to modernize its vegetable seed sector and strengthen agricultural resilience. As demand grows for vegetable varieties that can better withstand pests, diseases and climate-related stresses, robust evaluation systems become increasingly important for ensuring that innovations reach farmers safely and efficiently.
For WorldVeg, supporting national institutions to strengthen technical capacity is a key part of building sustainable agricultural systems. The approach equips national scientists and regulators with the knowledge and tools needed to manage variety evaluation independently over the long term, ensuring seed innovations reach farmers sooner.
The training was provided by the SafeVeg (Safe, locally produced vegetables for West African consumers) implemented by the World Vegetable Center in partnership with CIRAD and Wageningen University, with funding from the European Union and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
It contributes to Action Areas on Climate Resilience, Vegetable Biodiversity and Economic Empowerment in the World Vegetable Center’s WorldVeg Global Strategy 2026-2033. (Download｜Flipbook)
