Plant scientist scoops international award

Zimbabwean scientist and researcher Prince Matova often received prizes for science in high school but, more than two decades later, he has landed a prestigious international award: the Young Scientist Award 2021, in recognition of his work in the mutation breeding of cowpea and maize over the past 10 years.

The Young Scientist Award, received on 20 September, is jointly awarded by the Plant Mutation Breeding Division of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations to scientists under 40 years of age.

The award comes ahead of Matova’s graduation with a PhD at South Africa’s University of the Free State, where he has been enrolled in the department of plant sciences.

Matova’s international award was preceded by recognition at regional level: while leading the maize breeding programme at the Ministry of Agriculture in Zimbabwe, his team twice won the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) award for best maize-breeding team in Southern Africa, between 2016 and 2020.

The work is highly significant in a continent where more than 300 million smallholder farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa rely on maize for food and livelihoods.

Drought tolerance

Matova’s past work saw the release of the first mutant variety of cowpea in Zimbabwe, CBC5, which is drought tolerant and has 10% seed size advantage over its parent CBC1, thus performing 20% better in terms of grain yield potential compared to most farmer varieties in Zimbabwe. The variety was released in 2017 and commercialised in 2018.

Matova attended Zengeza 3 High School in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe, from 1996 to 1999, where he excelled in biology and science. He then proceeded to the Salvation Army church-run school, Howard High, for A-Levels, from 2000 to 2001.

His professional career started with a BSc Honours degree in crop science from the University of Zimbabwe in 2005, followed by an MSc in plant breeding at the same university.

In 2018, he enrolled for a PhD at the University of the Free State in South Africa with research funding from CIMMYT-Zimbabwe through Dr Cosmos Magorokosho, who was a co-supervisor, and with his tuition covered by bursaries secured with help from Professor of Plant Sciences Maryke Labuschagne, his co-supervisor and mentor at UFS. During his PhD studies, he collaborated with both CIMMYT-Zimbabwe and the IAEA.

He also worked with the Crop Breeding Institute in the Department of Research and Specialist Services (DR&SS) in Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Agriculture.

Matova told University World News that, despite his natural love for sciences, he had never imagined being involved in agricultural or plant sciences. “I just found myself there, but I am enjoying it so much,” he said.

Inspiration

As he explored the field and started to work in it, he said he got to work with some special people in both academia and industry who inspired him.

In addition to Magorokosho and Labuschagne, they include Dr Fatma Sarsu (IAEA), Dr Hussein Shimelis (University of KwaZulu-Natal), Dr Amsal Terekegne (ZAMSEED), Dr John MacRobert (Mukushi Seeds) and Dr Marilyn Warburton (Agricultural Research Service in the United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA-ARS).

Since 2018, Matova has been studying the potential of breeding fall armyworm (FAW)-resistant maize hybrids in Zimbabwe and sub-Saharan Africa.

“A main objective was to assess the potential of breeding for FAW resistance in maize in Zimbabwe and Sub-Saharan Africa; checking the suitability of introductions from Mexico as well as the possibility of having local adapted lines with sufficient and stable FAW resistance,” he said.

“Commercial cultivars in Zimbabwe or Sub-Saharan Africa had not been evaluated for resistance to FAW and that information was needed to guide policy and breeding.”

Matova also evaluated the potential of trait improvement in maize using gamma mutation induction. The technique had not been optimised in maize, yet it has huge potential for trait improvement.

“Overall, the results of my studies will help the industry to develop locally adapted and stable FAW-resistant maize genotypes and hybrids for use by farmers,” Matova said.

“I had further intentions to collaborate with USDA-ARS and IAEA in a genome-wide association study for FAW resistance but, with COVID-19, things got complicated and that objective was dropped but it remains work to be done post the PhD study.”

Matova has four peer-reviewed publications, including a book chapter on mutation breeding.

The book chapter was published in collaboration with colleagues in South Africa and reports on research done with the objective of evaluating the potential of two distinct mutation breeding approaches (chemical and gamma irradiations) in creating useful genetic variation in two legumes (cowpea and tepary beans) important to Sub-Saharan farmers in order to improve the agronomic attributes of both crops.

In 2017, Matova was awarded expert status by the IAEA to train international participants at a regional training course hosted by Cameroon in Yaounde.

The IAEA also sends international researchers to be trained by him in Zimbabwe. So far, he has trained more than 40 BSc and MSc students, and many professional breeders or researchers in Zimbabwe and other African countries.

Challenges for African scientists

Matova said scientists in Zimbabwe and Africa, in general, face challenges, one of which is funding.

“Funding for research, particularly in public or national programmes, and also study funds are a challenge,” he said. Before securing tuition funds for UFS, there were a number of costs, including the cost of SAQA [South African Qualifications Authority] registration.

“These challenges affect most researchers and students across Africa,” he said.

Matova said women face particular roadblocks but there is light at the end of the tunnel: “Of late, more women are beginning to get into agriculture.”

He said collaboration is part of his success story.

“In my profession, I have collaborated with a number of institutions which include CIMMYT, IITA, FAO, Practical Action, USDS-ARS and IAEA. I am thankful for the support from the IAEA which has come with a lot of training and equipment which has modernised the maize national breeding programme.

“The project management and scientific officers with whom I have collaborated in the past 10 years and the government of Zimbabwe through the National Liaison Office with IAEA and the DR&SS have been very helpful.

“CIMMYT has great mentorship and training capacity and it has contributed so much to the person I am today,” Matova added.