b'ASSOCIATION NEWS Claid MujajuMember-at-LargeCLAID MUJAJU IS CURRENTLYSpecialising in agriculture and biodiversity, DIRECTOR OF THE RESEARCHparticularly in plant genetic resources for food SERVICES DEPARTMENT WITHIN THEand agriculture, and in seed systems, Claid DIRECTORATE OF RESEARCH ANDhas contributed to agriculture and seed sector SPECIALIST SERVICES, GOVERNMENTdevelopment through his involvement in seed OF ZIMBABWE. He is in charge of overseeingpolicy harmonisation among regional member and guiding the service delivery of sevenstates within the Southern African Development institutes, including the Seed Services Institute;Corporation (SADC) and the Common Market the Plant Quarantine Services Institute;for Southern and Eastern Africa (COMESA), the Plant Protection Research Institute; theand in training seed industry personnel. He has Fertilizer, Farm Feeds and Remedies Institute;been Chair of the COMESA Regional Working the Chemistry and Soils Research Institute; theGroup on Variety Release; Chair of the COMESA Genetic Resources and Biotechnology Institute;Seed Committee; and an advisory member of and the National Herbarium and Botanicthe Seeds and Biotechnology Working Group ofand to coordinate the development of national Gardens. Before this role, from 2008 to 2021, hethe African Union. He has also been a resourcestrategies and action plans for plant genetic worked as Head of the Seed Services Institute, inperson in the areas of genetic resources andresources for food and agriculture in four African charge of the variety release system and of seedseed systems for regional and internationalcountries.certification and quality control. At the sameorganisations. He has acted as a consultant for time he served as the Registrar of Plant Breedersthe Africa Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) andMost recently, Claid assisted the Government Rights in charge of plant variety protection inCOMESA on harmonisation of seed policiesof Lesotho as a consultant through the Africa Zimbabwe. The Seed Services Institute houseswithin the COMESA region; for the FoodProductivity Programme for Southern Africa the only official ISTA accredited laboratory inAgriculture Natural Resources Policy Analysis(APPSA) to assess the gaps in seed policies Zimbabwe. Network (FANRPAN) on a harmonised seedand legislation, recommending how they can security programme within the SADC region; forbe harmonised to the SADC seed regulatory Claid obtained a BSc general majoring inICRISAT BULAWAYO on the identification of keysystem. He has published many research papers mathematics and biological sciences and a BSccost elements for the harmonised seed policies inon genetic diversity and seed systems, and (hons) in biological sciences, in 1992 and 1994,the SADC region; and for the International Planthas contributed to tertiary education through respectively, from the University of Zimbabwe.Genetic Resources Institute for Sub-Saharanlecturing and supervising students from various In 2000, he attained an MSc in systematics andAfrica (IPGRI SSA), IFAR, SADC Plant Geneticuniversities within SADC. He has been appointed biodiversity from the University of Cape Town,Resources Centre (SPGRC), the Food Agriculturethe national focal point in Zimbabwe for crop-Republic of South Africa. He gained a PhDOrganization of the United Nations (FAO) andrelated multilateral environmental agreements in agricultural sciences specialising in cropIFAD on genetic resources research. He has(e.g. International Treaty on Plant Genetic production and product quality from the Swedishconsulted for the African Seed Access IndexResources for Food and Agriculture; Commission University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in(TASAI) for Zimbabwe under Market Matterson Genetic Resources, etc.) and plant health 2011. Claid became a Postdoctoral Research(MM Inc.), USA. He has also coordinated amatters, including leading the National Plant Associate at SLU in 2012, collaborating with thefeasibility study for the Regional Access to SeedsProtection Organisation (NPPO) of Zimbabwe.University of Orange Free State, South Africa andIndex for East and Southern Africa under the the International Maize and Wheat ImprovementAccess to Seeds Foundation, The Netherlands,Claid has been involved with ISTA since his first Center (CIMMYT), Zimbabwe. From 1995 to 2007,for 19 African countries, sponsored by the Dutchparticipation at an ISTA Annual Meeting, held he was employed by the Zimbabwe Ministry ofMinistry of Economic Affairs and by the Billin Thailand in 2005. Since then, he has joined Agriculture, and has risen in ranks from a juniorand Melinda Gates Foundation. Furthermore,ISTA Annual Meetings on a regular basis as the officer at the National Herbarium to officerhe has been engaged by SADC through FAOISTA designated member for Zimbabwe. He in charge of the Genebank and Seed Servicesto develop the SADC Seed Certification andhas represented Africa as a Member-at-Large of Institute. Quality Assurance Guidelines for the SADCthe ISTA Executive Committee for the past two Harmonised Seed Regulatory System (SHSRS),triennia (20222025; 20192022).SEED TESTING INTERNATIONAL OCTOBER 2025 19'