Maize seeds resistant to Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease to be in the market by 2018

Biswanath Das, a CIMMYT Maize breeder at the KALRO Naivasha Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease (MLND) farm, shows other researchers the variety of maize that had shown resistance to MLND viruses at the farm in Naivasha. PHOTO: JACOB NG'ETICH

NAIROBI: Farmers will get hybrid seeds that are resistant to Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease (MLND) by 2018, researchers have said.

Some 15 varieties of seeds contain the resistance traits and are undergoing screening under the National Plants Trial (NPT) by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) before they are released into the market.