November 2010
Source: CGIAR News
New maize varieties are available to help African farmers cope with climate change, promising benefits for more than 4 million, if barriers to seed delivery can be overcome.
Against a background of rising concern about more frequent and severe drought caused by global climate change, a new study asserts that the widespread adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties could boost harvests in 13 African countries by 10-34%, generating up to US$1.5 billion in benefits for producers and consumers.
The study was conducted as part of the Drought-Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Initiative, which the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT by its Spanish abbreviation) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) implement with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. CIMMYT and IITA have worked with national agricultural research institutes across Africa to develop more than 50 new maize varieties that can yield 20-50% more under drought than the varieties farmers currently grow.
In April 2010, Malawian farmer Bamusi Stambuli and his wife Sagulani harvested nearly 1.8 tons of grain of the drought tolerant variety ZM 309- now called Msunga banja, or "that which feeds the family"- from an 0.6-hectare plot. In 2009 the government of Malawi decided to include ZM 309 in an initiative that offers discounts to farmers who purchase improved maize seed. |
Maize is key to the livelihoods and food security of millions in Africa, but farmers' maize yields typically average only a fifth of those in developed countries, often due to scarce and erratic rainfall. In southern Africa, the 2002–03 drought resulted in a food deficit of 3.3 million tons, with an estimated 14 million people at risk of starvation.
“We urgently need to get these new varieties to farmers,” says Roberto La Rovere, a socioeconomist at CIMMYT and the lead author of the study. “Our analysis shows that, with high rates of adoption, more than 4 million producers and consumers would benefit significantly by 2016.”
The study found that yield improvements resulting from the new varieties would provide farmers and consumers with additional food and income worth $537 million. A less conservative estimate put the figure at $876 million.
“The goal now is to make drought-tolerant maize readily available to millions of smallholder growers in countries where drought — a perennial threat to food production — can be expected to become more common and more severe,” says Hartmann, the director general of IITA, who uses only one name.
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A peer-reviewed study carried out by the International Livestock Research Institute warned that failure to transition to drought-tolerant maize could diminish yields across the region by up to 1 ton per hectare.
Some of the new drought-tolerant maize seed is already reaching farmers’ fields. This year alone saw the official release of four new varieties developed by IITA breeders and partners in Ghana that both tolerate drought and resist the parasitic weed Striga. But, the CIMMYT-IITA study cautions, past trends suggest that the rate at which farmers’ adopt drought-tolerant maize could vary widely, from as much as 85% in Kenya and Zambia to just 20% in Benin.
“It’s very important for everyone at all points in the value chain to coordinate their efforts, so that we can address the challenges that in the past have made it difficult for African farmers to obtain seed of improved crop varieties,” says Wilfred Mwangi, associate director of CIMMYT's Global Maize Program and leader of the DTMA project.
“Over the years, many farmers in sub-Saharan Africa have continued to grow old, low-yielding maize varieties, despite the availability of newer and better-performing ones,” adds Mwangi. “This is partly because they don't know about the new varieties or can't get credit to buy seed. Many farmers are discouraged from buying seed because they can't sell their surplus grain at attractive prices, while others live beyond the reach of commercial seed companies.”
In Malawi, the impact of the DTMA project is already becoming evident in farmers’ fields. Farmer Bamusi Stambuli estimates he will save over $330 per year by growing a drought-tolerant maize variety developed by CIMMYT and breeders at Malawi’s Chitedze Research Station. This year, Stambuli’s maize yields with this variety were nearly twice those of other local varieties. “I will now be able to feed my family for the entire year,” said Stambuli, who has seven children and five grandchildren.
Two varieties released in Malawi in 2009 — ZM 309 and ZM 523 — were bred specifically for drought-prone areas where soils are infertile. Introduced by local extension agents to farmers in the Balaka area, the new varieties have produced good yields in demonstration plots. Farmers say that ZM 309 and ZM 523 yield more, mature earlier and are better for pounding into flour than other commercial varieties.
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