Highest Degree
Ph.D. in Plant Breeding from University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa
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Professor Mutengwa’s working career started when he was employed as a Maize breeder at the African Centre for Fertiliser Development (ACFD) for three years (2003-2006), in Zimbabwe. The ACFD had a dwarf maize breeding programme and a few hybrid varieties on the market at the time. He was then recruited as a Lecturer for one year (2006-2007) at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), where he continued to work with dwarf maize. He resumed duties at the University of Fort Hare (UFH) in April 2007, as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Science and Agriculture. He was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor with effect from 1 January, 2017. Professor Mutengwa has gathered substantial managerial experience at various levels over the years. This includes being head of Agronomy Department, Deputy Leader and Acting Leader for the Research Niche Area on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security at the UFH.
Over the years, Prof Mutengwa’s research has focused on maize open pollinated varieties (OPVs), Quality protein maize, sorghum, and recently, wheat. Maize OPV research at UFH started with participatory multi-environment trials of several varieties, the majority of which were introduced from CIMMYT’s regional office in Zimbabwe. This led to community-based seed production initiatives, and development of a business plan aimed at commercialising one of the OPVs in the Eastern Cape (EC). The quality protein maize (QPM) breeding programme at UFH is focused on development of stress (heat, drought, low soil N, etc) tolerant varieties. Numerous QPM inbred lines were and are being characterised for tolerance to these stresses, and proteomic analysis was also initiated to identify proteins associated with tolerance to selected combinations of stresses for potential use in marker assisted selection. Preliminary evaluation of QPM hybrids in selected sites has been initiated in the EC. Recently, we initiated investigations on wheat with a focus on the interactive effects of heat, drought and elevated carbon dioxide in collaboration with Rhodes University. Substantial funds were raised for research and student bursaries over the years, as can be seen from the CV. Fourteen MSc and 3 PhD students have been successfully supervised thus far. Thirty-seven peer-reviewed manuscripts, one book Chapter, four technical reports and two periodical articles were published over the years. Some of the research outputs were presented in 33 national and international conferences. More specific details will be found in the following sections of thedetailed CV.
