Maize is life to more than 300 million of Africa’s most vulnerable inhabitants, and the most important food staple on the continent. Recurrent droughts in the region ruin harvests, lives, and livelihoods. A new study shows that the development, deployment, and cultivation of drought tolerant maize varieties can significantly profit sub-Saharan Africa's maize farmers and consumers, reducing their vulnerability.

The study evaluates the potential impacts of Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), a project led by CIMMYT and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in 13 African countries: Angola, Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Ghana. It outlines cumulative economic and poverty-reduction benefits to farmers and consumers for the period described above—the duration of the DTMA project—through farmers' adoption of improved, drought tolerant maize varieties.

More information and the study are available online here.