Abstract
In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), “maize is life,” due to its importance to food security and economic wellbeing. Around 40 % of Africa’s maize-growing area faces occasional drought stress, resulting in yield losses of 10–25 %. Around 25 % of the maize crop suffers frequent drought, with losses of up to half the harvest. To reduce vulnerability and improve food security, the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project has made releases of 160 drought tolerant (DT) maize varieties between 2007 and 2013. These have been tested in experimental and farmers’ fields, and disseminated to farmers in 13 African countries through national agricultural research systems and private seed companies. Yields of the new varieties are superior to those of currently available commercial maize varieties under both stress and optimum growing conditions. Although the benefits of DT maize for African farmers have been repeatedly predicted, realization of those benefits depends on farmer uptake, which has received limited empirical study. We use new plot-level data from surveys of 3,700 farm households in six countries (Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) to measure DT maize adoption rates and their determinants. The data reveal considerable inter-country variation in farmer uptake of DT maize, from 9 % of maize plots in Zimbabwe to 61 % in Malawi. The major barriers to adoption include unavailability of improved seed, inadequate information, lack of resources, high seed price, and perceived attributes of different varieties. Based on the results, we recommend that seed companies and agro-dealers ensure adequate supply of DT maize seed in local markets and sell seed in affordable micro-packs (1 or 2 kg). Furthermore, the DTMA project and partners should ramp up promotional efforts to ensure widespread awareness and understanding of the benefits of the new DT maize varieties.
Highlights
Agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces unprecedented challenges, due to changes in demand for food, market conditions, and climate
This section reports the multinomial logit (MNL) model results (Table 2) complemented by Fig. 2, which presents the most common answers to the question BWhy have you not tried growing drought tolerant (DT) maize?^ Results of the MNL model show that farmers who highly value grain yield, drought tolerance, and early maturity were more likely to grow DT maize varieties. These results are as expected, but they do not reveal that a sizable number of farmers said they have not tried growing the new DT maize varieties due to concerns about unfavorable attributes
In Malawi, farmers complained of poor storability, i.e., they were concerned that DT maize varieties are prone to attack by storage pests, like weevils
Summary
Agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces unprecedented challenges, due to changes in demand for food, market conditions, and climate. Research in SSA has indicated a consistent yield advantage of improved maize varieties over local maize varieties at different levels of fertilizer use and various soil fertility and rainfall conditions (Smale and Jayne 2003). The benefits of DT maize for African farmers have been repeatedly predicted, realization of those benefits depends on adoption of the new DT maize varieties by SSA farmers, which has only been studied for 200 farm households in Nigeria (Tambo and Abdoulaye 2013). It is important to point out, that the new DT maize varieties are high yielding across a range of MMEs and under both moderate drought and good rainfall conditions (Unpublished data from Tsedeke Abate, DTMA project Leader, May 2015). What adjustments in agricultural practice have African farmers used to adapt to climate variability and change?
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