Maize revolutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

There have been numerous episodes of
widespread adoption of improved seed and long-term
achievements in the development of the maize seed industry
in Sub-Saharan Africa. This summary takes a circumspect view
of technical change in maize production. Adoption of
improved seed has continued to rise gradually, now
representing an estimated 44 percent of maize area in
Eastern and Southern Africa (outside South Africa), and 60
percent of maize area in West and Central Africa. Use of
fertilizer and restorative crop management practices remains
relatively low and inefficient. An array of extension models
has been tested and a combination of approaches will be
needed to reach maize producers in heterogeneous
agricultural environments. Yield growth overall has been 1
percent over the past half-century, although this figure
masks the high variability in maize yields, as well as
improvements in resistance to disease and abiotic pressures
that would have caused yield decline in the absence of maize
breeding progress. The authors argue that conducive policies
are equally, if not more, important for maize productivity
in the region than the development of new technology and
techniques. Currently popular, voucher-based subsidies can
"crowd out" the private sector and could be
fiscally unsustainable.