Kampala, Uganda
March 19, 2008
The African Agricultural
Technology Foundation (AATF) today announced a
public-private partnership to develop drought-tolerant maize
varieties for Africa. The partnership, known as Water Efficient
Maize for Africa (WEMA), was formed in response to a growing
call by African farmers, leaders, and scientists to address the
devastating effects of drought on small-scale farmers and their
families. Frequent drought leads to crop failure, hunger, and
poverty. Climate change will only worsen the problem.
AATF announced the effort at the end of a two-day planning
meeting that included representatives from each of the countries
participating in the project: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and South
Africa. The partners will use marker-assisted breeding and
biotechnology to develop African maize varieties with the
long-term goal of making drought-tolerant maize available
royalty-free to African small-scale farmers. The benefits and
safety of these maize varieties will be assessed by national
authorities according to the regulatory requirements in each
country.
‘This partnership fits well with the AATF mandate of
facilitating innovative public/private partnerships that bring
to smallholder farmers in Africa the tools needed to increase
productivity for better food and income security,’ Said Mpoko
Bokanga, Executive Director AATF.
AATF will work with the non-profit International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Center (CIMMYT); the private agricultural company,
Monsanto; and the national agricultural research systems in the
participating countries. The new drought-tolerance technologies
have already been licensed without charge to AATF so they can be
developed, tested, and eventually distributed to African seed
companies through AATF without royalty and made available to
smallholder farmers.
Bokanga added that the project will involve local institutions,
both public and private, and in the process expand their
capacity and experience in crop breeding, biotechnology, and
biosafety.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett
Foundation contributed a total of $47 million to this effort.
The Director General of the National Agricultural Research
Organisation of Uganda Dr. Dennis Kyetere presided over the
official announcement of the initiative and said that the
project will help address drought and contribute to food
security in Africa.
‘Drought is a source of suffering and food insecurity for many
people in Uganda and it is recognised as a challenge by the
government. Drought causes up to 100 percent crop failure in
Uganda in some instances’, said Dr. Kyetere.
Africa is a drought-prone continent, making farming risky for
millions of small-scale farmers who rely on rainfall to water
their crops. Maize is the most widely grown staple crop in
Africa: more than 300 million Africans depend on it as their
main food source. It is severely affected by frequent drought.
In the next five years, the partnership will develop the new
maize varieties, incorporating the best drought-tolerance
technologies available internationally. CIMMYT will provide
conventionally developed drought tolerant high-yielding maize
varieties that are adapted to African conditions and expertise
in conventional breeding and testing for drought tolerance.
Monsanto will provide proprietary germplasm, advanced breeding
tools and expertise. Additionally, Monsanto and BASF will
provide drought-tolerance transgenes that they have developed
through their collaboration. These contributions will be
provided without royalty. The national agricultural research
systems, farmers’ groups, and seed companies participating in
the project will contribute their expertise in breeding,
regulatory issues and will be responsible for country-specific
implementation including project governance, testing, germplasm
evaluation, seed production and distribution.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funded an independent
program at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health
(University of Toronto) to assess and monitor social, cultural,
ethical and commercial issues related to the WEMA Project. The
independent organization will conduct annual audits of WEMA and
serve as an additional communication channel for stakeholders.
According to eminent scientist Professor Calestous Juma, who is
the Director of the Science, Technology and Globalisation
Project at Harvard University, the WEMA project is a powerful
signal of the relevance of biotechnology to African agriculture.
The collaboration between CIMMYT and national agricultural
research systems has already yielded excellent gains in drought
tolerance through conventional breeding. The partners in the
WEMA project expect the combination of advanced breeding and
biotechnology to bring even greater gains. The partners estimate
that the maize products developed over the next 10 years could
increase yields by 20 to 35 percent under moderate drought,
compared to current varieties. This increase would translate
into about two million additional tons of food during drought
years in the participating countries, meaning 14 to 21 million
people would have more to eat and sell.
The first conventional varieties developed by WEMA could be
available after six to seven years of research and development.
The transgenic drought-tolerant maize hybrids will be available
in about ten years.
Risk of crop failure from drought is one of the primary reasons
why small-scale farmers in Africa do not adopt improved farming
practices. A more reliable harvest could give farmers the
confidence to improve their techniques. Good soil health,
improved training and support, pest and disease management, and
access to markets to sell their surplus are all necessary for
small-scale farmers to boost their yields and incomes. To date,
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has invested more than $660
million as part of a broad agricultural development strategy
that includes efforts in all of these areas so small-scale
farmers could have access to the tools and opportunities they
need to build better lives.
The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) is an
African-led charity designed to facilitate and promote
public/private partnerships for the access and delivery of
appropriate proprietary technologies with potential to increase
the productivity of resource-poor smallholder farmers in
Sub-Saharan Africa. (www.aatf-africa.org)
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