Sarah Kariuki and Michael Ndegwa (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center): "Innovative approaches to accelerate varietal turnover of maize hybrids in Kenya".

Abstract:

Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa typically suffers from low productivity, with smallholder farmers achieving only around 20% of their potential yields under rainfed conditions on average. This low agricultural productivity is a major driver of the region’s high levels of rural poverty and food insecurity. One way to boost productivity is through the use of newly developed high-yield planting materials, such as seeds that are resistant to drought and diseases. These innovations can help farmers cope with the increasing biotic and abiotic stresses brought on by climate change.

Despite the advantages offered by newly developed crop varieties, their adoption has been slow. Farmers have been observed to stick with older, legacy varieties derived from traditional breeding methods and not best adapted to the current agroclimatic conditions, a problem known as slow varietal turnover. The seed systems team at CIMMYT is using experimental approaches to investigate ways to accelerate varietal turnover for maize hybrids. During this seminar, we will discuss the issue of slow varietal replacement and share findings from research aimed at speeding up farmer adoption of newly released maize hybrids in Kenya.