The Regional Disease Nursery (REGNUR) Project was initiated in 1997 to address the limited regional dissemination of information about available germplasm and make more accessible to the public information on disease reaction, insect pests, and the agronomic characteristics of most breeding material. Lack of information had severely limited the selection of breeding materials from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the sharing of germplasm and information among maize breeding programs of regional national agricultural research systems (NARS). Lack of funds among NARS maize breeding programs had resulted in a decline in their ability to evaluate new germplasm and had reduced opportunities for pathologists, entomologists and breeders to work together.

Through phase I of the REGNUR project, a team of maize scientists in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda was formed to work together to evaluate the resistance of experimental germplasm for five diseases and two insect pests. Each collaborator identified promising and potentially useful germplasm. To build on the success of REGNUR I, a 3-year second phase was started in 2002 with a revised emphasis: ‘collaborative maize breeding’ rather than ‘collaborative germplasm evaluation’, which would enable NARS scientists to be fully involved at all stages of the maize-breeding process. Collaborators were extremely successful in identifying good source germplasm in Phase I. The next logical step was for each collaborator to use such germplasm in a sustained breeding effort that would ensure a continuous supply of new germplasm in the long term. Involving the collaborators from the early generations of the breeding was perceived to give the concerned scientist a sense of ownership of the germplasm developed. The intent was to motivate the scientist until the end of the breeding process, culminating in variety release and dissemination to the farmers. Thus, NARS scientists would develop products adapted to overcome specific problems of greatest importance in each country while maintaining regional adaptation. REGNUR Phase I (1997–2001) covered East Africa alone, while Phase II (2002–04) was expanded to include southern Africa with Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe joining the project.

Thus, REGNUR II enabled the collaborators in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe to incorporate elite germplasm from REGNUR I and CIMMYT into the existing germplasm base of each national program. Three-way and double-cross hybrids representing the above combinations were made and are being evaluated by some collaborators while several others identified hybrids and open-pollinated varieties for release. Inbred line development projects using elite single crosses were started. Several of these collaborators were trained to computerize germplasm records.