Even with heavy rain, drought tolerant maize performs well for farmers in Zimbabwe
A healthy ear of drought tolerant maize grown by farmer Mary Sikirwayi. Maize is life for her and her family, and she grows a number of varieties. Mostly she eats white maize like this, which she grinds and cooks to produce Zimbabwe’s staple food, sadza. She also grows other types of maize of different colors for animal feed and medicinal purposes.
Where Sikirwayi lives in Murewa District, Zimbabwe, lack of rain is usually the biggest problem for maize growers. In 2011 she participated in on-farm trials of drought tolerant varieties, held in collaboration between CIMMYT, local agricultural extension workers, and farmers. These were part of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project, a CIMMYT-led partnership involving researchers from 13 nations in sub-Saharan Africa that aims to accelerate drought tolerant maize development and deployment, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
However, heavy rains during the 2011 growing season offered a different challenge to the new maize varieties, illustrating how important it is for them to give high yields not just under drought, but whatever the weather. Sikirwayi is pleased with their performance: her small farm produced 5.5 tons of maize in 2011, increased from only 3.5 tons the previous year.
Photo credit: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT.
For more information, see CIMMYT's 2011 e-news story "Too much of a good thing: Drought-tolerant maize faces rain aplenty in Zimbabwe," available online at: www.cimmyt.org/en/newsletter/511-2011/1218-too-much-of-a-....
Even with heavy rain, drought tolerant maize performs well for farmers in Zimbabwe
A healthy ear of drought tolerant maize grown by farmer Mary Sikirwayi. Maize is life for her and her family, and she grows a number of varieties. Mostly she eats white maize like this, which she grinds and cooks to produce Zimbabwe’s staple food, sadza. She also grows other types of maize of different colors for animal feed and medicinal purposes.
Where Sikirwayi lives in Murewa District, Zimbabwe, lack of rain is usually the biggest problem for maize growers. In 2011 she participated in on-farm trials of drought tolerant varieties, held in collaboration between CIMMYT, local agricultural extension workers, and farmers. These were part of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project, a CIMMYT-led partnership involving researchers from 13 nations in sub-Saharan Africa that aims to accelerate drought tolerant maize development and deployment, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
However, heavy rains during the 2011 growing season offered a different challenge to the new maize varieties, illustrating how important it is for them to give high yields not just under drought, but whatever the weather. Sikirwayi is pleased with their performance: her small farm produced 5.5 tons of maize in 2011, increased from only 3.5 tons the previous year.
Photo credit: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT.
For more information, see CIMMYT's 2011 e-news story "Too much of a good thing: Drought-tolerant maize faces rain aplenty in Zimbabwe," available online at: www.cimmyt.org/en/newsletter/511-2011/1218-too-much-of-a-....