Analysts: Drought Tolerant Maize Has Measurable Impact on African Agriculture

The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project, which was launched in 2006 and seeks to mitigate drought and other barriers to production in the region, was reported to have brought positive results on African agriculture. Economic analyses further suggest that if widely adopted, drought tolerant maize seed can help African farmers cope with such impediments.

Among the targets that the project has achieved so far in terms of measurable impact are the following:

• 140 new DTMA varieties were released in Africa;
• An impact efficiency study  which indicated that several countries were able to reach their objectives in terms of seed production; Zimbabwe and Kenya were able to double their previous expected figures ;
• 110 African seed companies (72 small-national, 18 regional, 12 small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and 8 international enterprises) have adopted, produced and spread the new DTM varieties to local farmers;
• These new varieties were planted in 1,230,000 farmlands; and
• Three million households and 20 million people in total were benefited and reached by the technology.

For more information, visit http://www.cgiar.org/consortium-news/partnerships-lead-to-measurable-impacts-for-drought-tolerant-maize-for-africa/.