Drought-tolerant maize provides extra 9 months of food for farming families

In 2014, the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and with funding provided through the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Research Program on Maize, started the implementation of the ‘Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa’ project, which will be continued under the ‘Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa’ project. The objective of the project is to improve food and economic security of Zimbabwean farmers by stabilizing and securing maize food security when drought strikes. Core components include development and dissemination of drought-tolerant (DT) maize varieties to farmers in Zimbabwe to improve maize yields and improve livelihood conditions. Key outcomes so far are improved maize yields (up to 40%) under severe drought conditions, providing smallholders in Zimbabwe an additional nine months of food at no additional cost. Key lessons learned include that Zimbabwean households that grew DT maize experienced a significant increase in total maize production; DT maize thus has the potential to improve food and economic security for many farmers.