| Abstract |
MAIZE is a highly collaborative program that contributes to 10 of the 11 Intermediate Development Outcomes (IDOs) of the CGIAR – productivity, food security, income, gender, capacity to innovate and adapt, environment, future options and climate. In 2013, MAIZE financed research with more than 150 partners, leveraged investments, partnerships and 50,000 training events or field days in 130 bilateral projects, and collaborated strongly with other CRPs. The sustainable intensification strategy in MAIZE addresses maize and maize-based farming systems-related challenges through 75 innovation platforms and 13,500 study and survey sites; serving to enhance the capacity to innovate and capacity to adapt of participants. More than 50% of these platforms are shared with WHEAT, GRiSP, CCAFS, Grain Legumes, Livestock or Aquatic Systems. MAIZE germplasm research strategy annually sends new germplasm to around 100 collaborators mostly in Africa, Asia and Latin America, augments the capacity of 180 small- and medium-sized seed companies and 226 community-based seed producers that reach out to disadvantaged farmers; contributing directly to Food Security, Productivity and Income IDOs, and providing major inputs to A4NH, CCAFS and GCP. The post-harvest research strategy works with NGOs, local entrepreneurs and A4NH. As a result, over 1 million farmers, on 417,000 ha of land, are estimated to have benefited from MAIZE research outputs in 2013; contributing to Food Security, Productivity and Income IDOs. Many more are benefiting through maize germplasm that has been released by partners. 2013 MAIZE highlights include: (a) a collaborative effort among MAIZE, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) and the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) to mitigate the expanding threat of Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) disease, including the establishment of a centralized MLN screening facility at Naivasha, Kenya; (b) in collaboration with the University of Hohenheim, the expansion of doubled haploid (DH) breeding technology to Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) – culminating in the opening of a Maize DH facility at Kiboko, Kenya – the first DH breeding facility in Africa for the benefit of both national agricultural research systems (NARS) and smalland medium-sized seed companies; (c) continued expansion of the “Take it to The Farmer” project in Mexico – now reaching over 200,000 farmers; (d) the expansion of the integrated control of Striga (Witch Weed) across hotspot areas in East and West Africa; (e) the expansion of hermetic, low-cost grain storage in metal silos across East and Southern Africa; (f) championing commercial female-headed and socially inclusive and equitable seed businesses in Nepal; (g) new insights on dual-purpose maize (grain and stover production) in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute(ILRI); (h) an assessment of drivers of change and systems modeling for better targeting of project interventions undertaken in collaboration with Wageningen University; (i) completion of the MAIZE Gender Audit and major progress on gender mainstreaming, and; (j) exciting work to reduce drudgery, increase productivity and women’s empowerment through small-scale mechanization for sustainable intensification in SSA, aligned with similar efforts in South Asia. Major challenges to the CRP include, MLN reducing the demand for/sales by the fledgling seed sector in Africa, setting back scale-out capacities established in recent years; and inadequate opportunities to strategically analyze successes and challenges to the adoption of new technologies/innovations within the maize based systems work. |
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