Drought Tolerant Maize

In my earlier post, I mentioned the prevalence of droughts in Africa. Although not an ideal situation, farmers in Africa have learned how to push through drought by growing crops that can survive with less water. One example is drought tolerant maize. Maize is commonly eaten in Africa, helps many people avoid food insecurity, and can be sold to earn income. In Africa, 40% of maize-growing areas encounter challenges from drought, which results in a decrease in crop yield. Roughly 10 to 25% of maize crop yield is lost as a result of drought. Drought tolerant maize helps minimize these losses. This maize has been thoroughly tested and was found to be successful, but the level of drought tolerant maize use in Africa varies from country to country. For example in Malawi, 61% of maize plots started using drought tolerant maize, while in Zimbabwe it was only 9 percent. The high implementation percentage in Malawi is partially due to its large-scale Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP), which aims to help farmers grow maize by assisting them with materials to help grow crops (Lunduka et al. 2013). One reason it was difficult for some countries to have a more widespread use of this maize is lack of availability and information. On the other hand, some farmers were not interested in the drought tolerant maize because they believed it would produce a lower crop yield than normal maize and would require more work and labor (Fisher et al 2015). The initiative for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to improve access to good seeds can mitigate the lack of available drought tolerant maize seeds. Spreading information about the benefits of growing drought tolerant maize, for example high yields, and disproving myths, such as it having poor seed attributes, would also be helpful. If you are interested in learning more about AGRA you should read my previous blog post.


Corn field
Figure 1: Drought tolerant maize (GM Watch)

Below is a video from KTN News Kenya about drought tolerant maize in Africa. The video does a nice job of explaining the field trial process of testing drought tolerant maize in Africa. Testing the success of this maize directly in Africa is essential because growing conditions are different around the world and these crops face different drought levels and pests.


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