Hybrid True Potato Seed Trials Come to South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Zimbabwe

Four countries. One crop. One problem that has held it back for decades.

Over the coming season, hybrid true potato seed (HTPS) trials are being planned across South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Zimbabwe. RegenZ is involved because we have spent more than 30 years moving potato genetics into this region, and because we think this particular change matters more than most.

This post explains what HTPS is, why these four countries were chosen, and what needs to happen for it to reach farmers here.

The problem is not the potato. It is the seed.

A potato crop starts with seed potatoes. These are tubers, not seeds. They are heavy, they are bulky, they need cold storage, and they carry whatever viruses and diseases the parent crop had.

To plant one hectare you need roughly 1 700 kg to 2 500 kg of certified seed potatoes. That is close to two tonnes, and it has to be kept cool from the moment it leaves the store until the moment it goes in the ground.

For a commercial grower with a cold room and a tractor, that is manageable. We do it every season through our bulk seed potato supply business.

For a smallholder farmer three hours from the nearest town, it is close to impossible. So they replant their own tubers season after season. Disease builds up. Yields fall. The crop that should be feeding the household starts costing more than it returns.

What hybrid true potato seed changes

Hybrid true potato seed is an actual seed. It comes from a potato flower, not from a tuber. It looks like a tomato seed, because botanically that is roughly what it is.

Four things change when you plant a seed instead of a tuber:

• Weight. In the Solynta and Solidaridad trial work in Mozambique, 25 g of true seed was reported to do the job of roughly 2 500 kg of seed tubers. That is a small envelope instead of a truckload.
• Disease. True seed does not carry the tuber-borne viruses that accumulate when farmers replant their own crop. Every season starts clean.
• Storage. Seed does not need a cold chain. It keeps in a dry, cool cupboard.
• Breeding speed. Because HTPS is a true hybrid system, breeders can stack traits such as late blight resistance far faster than conventional potato breeding allows. Solynta's SOLHY023, registered in Kenya on 21-07-2026, carries multiple late blight resistance genes.

The Mozambique trial gives a sense of the yield range. Running from August 2019 to April 2020 in the Angonia district of Tete province, hybrid TPS varieties produced between 8,5 t/ha and 25,9 t/ha. The local control varieties produced 8 t/ha. That is a wide band, which is exactly why regional trials matter: the answer depends on soil, altitude, rainfall and management, and it has to be measured where the crop will actually grow.

Why these four countries

Look at where Southern Africa gets its planting material.

In 2024, South Africa exported 23 741 152 kg of seed potatoes. Potatoes South Africa lists the destination markets as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia and Eswatini. Three of the four trial countries are on that list. The fourth is South Africa itself.

So the region runs on seed that has to be grown somewhere cool, certified, stored cold and then trucked across borders. Every link in that chain adds cost and risk.

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a useful case because the numbers are public and the direction is clear. The 2025/26 summer crop came in at 100 055 t off 3 450 ha, an average of 29 t/ha, up from 26 t/ha the previous season and well ahead of the roughly 20 t/ha historical average. The 2026 winter target is 9 000 ha and 243 850 t.

That is real growth. But imported potatoes reportedly land at Harare wholesale markets at around USD 400 to USD 500 per tonne, while local production is estimated at USD 600 to USD 800 per tonne. Certified seed multiplication is concentrated in a highland quarantine zone through the Seed Services Institute at Nyanga. Irish potato has been a declared national strategic food security crop since 2012.

Zimbabwe has the demand, the yields and the policy intent. Seed supply is the constraint. It is also our largest seed potato market, so this is a country we know well.

Lesotho and Botswana

Both appear on the South African seed potato export list, which tells you where their planting material comes from. Lesotho's altitude is well suited to potato production. Botswana's constraint is water and heat, which makes drought tolerance and short season length worth testing rather than assuming.

South Africa

South Africa has the strongest seed potato system in the region and the most to gain from a lighter, cleaner option for the smallholder and emerging tier. We already supply open varieties, with Valor and Mondial as our main focus, grown by KwaZulu-Natal seed growers with field multiplication by Ivanhoe Farms and Pidelta. HTPS does not replace that. It sits alongside it and reaches farmers the current system cannot serve economically.

Why registration matters more than the trial

Here is the part that gets missed.

A successful trial proves the variety works. It does not give a farmer the legal right to plant it. For that, each variety has to be evaluated and registered in each country, under that country's seed legislation. Kenya has done this: Solynta's varieties have been approved for commercial release there. Southern Africa has not.

Registration is slow, it is country by country, and it needs someone on the ground who understands both the agronomy and the paperwork. RegenZ has been working on variety introduction and plant breeders' rights in Southern Africa since 1992. That is the unglamorous work that turns a promising trial into seed a farmer can legally buy.

If HTPS is not registered in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Zimbabwe, then the trial results are interesting and nothing more. Getting the varieties through the regulatory door in all four countries is the actual goal.

What the trials are set up to answer

Trial data only earns its keep if it answers questions a farmer would ask. The core ones:

• What yield do these hybrids give under local soil, altitude and rainfall conditions, compared with the certified seed tubers growers use now?
• Do farmers transplant seedlings, or direct-sow? What does each route cost in labour and nursery space?
• How does the crop handle late blight pressure in a wet Southern African summer?
• What does tuber size distribution and eating quality look like, since a crop that yields well but does not sell is not a win?
• Can a smallholder run this without a cold chain, which is the whole point?

We will publish the results either way. A trial that shows a variety is not suited to a region is as useful as one that shows it is, and considerably more useful than a press release.

Keep it simple: what this means for you

If you grow potatoes commercially: nothing changes this season. Certified seed tubers remain the right tool for a mechanised, irrigated hectare. Watch the trial data, because in a few seasons this may give you a cheaper route into new varieties.

If you run a smallholder programme or a farmer group: this is the one to watch. A seed that ships in an envelope and needs no cold room removes two of the biggest reasons quality planting material never reaches rural farmers. Talk to us about smallholder input programmes if you want to be part of the trial network.

If you fund agriculture or food security work: seed system reform is one of the highest-leverage investments in African potato production. Our funder and CSI partner page sets out how we structure programme delivery.

Frequently asked questions

Is hybrid true potato seed genetically modified?

No. HTPS is produced through conventional hybrid breeding, the same principle used in maize and vegetable seed for decades. It is not a GMO technology.

Can I buy hybrid true potato seed in South Africa now?

Not yet. Varieties must be registered under South African seed legislation before they can be sold commercially. Trial and evaluation work comes first. Our hybrid true potato seed page carries the current status.

Will HTPS replace seed potatoes?

We do not expect it to. It opens a route to farmers the tuber system cannot reach affordably, and it speeds up how quickly new traits reach the field. Certified seed tubers will remain the backbone of large-scale commercial production for a long time.

How long until farmers here can plant it?

That depends on trial results and on four separate registration processes. We will not put a date on something four regulators control.

Get involved

If you farm potatoes in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana or Zimbabwe and want to follow this work, or you would like to host a trial site, get in touch with the RegenZ team. You can also reach us on WhatsApp on +27 60 319 8990.

RegenZ does not employ a SACNASP-registered agronomist. Trial information and agronomic guidance in this article are indicative and are intended to support, not replace, advice from a registered professional.