Abstract
Drought is a huge limiting factor in maize production, mainly in the rain-fed agriculture of sub-Saharan Africa. In response to this threat, drought-tolerant (DT) maize varieties have been developed with an aim to ensure maize production under mild drought conditions. We conducted a study to assess the impact of smallholder farmers’ adoption of DT maize varieties on total maize production. Data for the study came from a survey of 200 randomly sampled households in two districts of Chiredzi and Chipinge in southeastern Zimbabwe. The study found that 93% of the households were growing improved maize varieties and that 30% of the sampled households were growing DT maize varieties. Total maize yield was 436.5 kg/ha for a household that did not grow DT maize varieties and 680.5 kg/ha for households that grew DT maize varieties. We control for the endogeneity of the DT adoption variable, by using the control function approach to estimate total maize production in a Cobb–Douglas model. The results show that households that grew DT maize varieties had 617 kg/ha more maize than households that did not grow the DT maize varieties. Given that almost all farmers buy their seeds in the market, a change in varieties to DT maize seeds gives an extra income of US$240/ha or more than nine months of food at no additional cost. This has huge implications in curbing food insecurity and simultaneously saving huge amounts of resources at the household and national levels, which are used to buy extra food during the lean season.
Highlights
Drought has been highlighted as one of the major causes of reduced maize production and food insecurity across the globe and in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where agriculture production is largely rainfed (Shiferaw, Prasanna, Hellin, & Bänziger, 2011). Daryanto, Wang, and Jacinthe (2016) estimated that the occurrence of midseason droughts, at the vegetative and productive phases for maize, reduces yields by 39.3%
This study found that households that grew DT maize varieties had an average total maize production of 966 kg plot–1 with an average plot size of 3.55 acres, while households that did not grow DT had 716 kg plot−1 with an average land size of 4.1 acres
This study evaluates the impact of adoption of DT maize varieties on the total maize production of households in southeastern Zimbabwe
Summary
Drought has been highlighted as one of the major causes of reduced maize production and food insecurity across the globe and in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where agriculture production is largely rainfed (Shiferaw, Prasanna, Hellin, & Bänziger, 2011). Daryanto, Wang, and Jacinthe (2016) estimated that the occurrence of midseason droughts, at the vegetative and productive phases for maize, reduces yields by 39.3%. The predicted increase in temperature is likely to have huge implications for maize production and, subsequently, the food security and livelihoods of smallholder farming households (Lobell, Bänziger, Magorokosho, & Vivek, 2011). Adapting to such climatic changes is critical for ensuring national food security and economic stability. One such adaptation strategy has been the development of drought-tolerant (DT) maize varieties. The development of DT maize varieties has remained a major objective of breeding programmes and research institutes across the globe (Bänziger, Setimela, Hodson, & Vivek, 2006; Campos, Cooper, Habben, Edmeades, & Schussler, 2004)
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