Drought-Tolerant Maize Wins Award

LONDONThe U.K.s Department for International Development (DFID) won Best Technological Breakthrough at the Climate Week Awards for a project to develop drought-tolerant maize in Africa.

The new maize was developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), and support from DFID has helped give farmers across 13 African countries 34 different drought tolerant maize varieties. More than 2 million smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are growing the new varieties and have experienced the benefits firsthand.

In a continent where maize is the staple crop for more than 300 million people this development is invaluable. In 2011, more than 12.5 million people suffered the effects of drought and resulting famines in the Horn of Africa, with the drought being termed the worst in 60 years. As temperatures rise there is an urgent need to grow maize that is able to thrive on less water.

Experts have shown that production of drought-tolerant crops are not only beneficial for managing current and future risks of drought, but are also critical to Africa's ability to feed itself. This program uses conventional breeding, where varieties with good drought tolerance characteristics are cross-bred to get final products which are both productive and nutritious, will grow well in African conditions and are drought-tolerant.