DTMA & WEMA: Drought Tolerant Maize Varieties and Water Efficient Maize Varieties

Enhance farm's resilience with DTMA and WEMA maize varieties, ensuring consistent yields even in unpredictable weather.

These seed technologies, developed through conventional and biotechnological methods, bolster the maize plant's ability to withstand acute soil drying and low water supply. They outperform traditional varieties under various levels of water stress, offering resilience in both dry and intermittently wet climates.

This technology is TAAT1 validated.

8•8

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 8/9; level of use 8/9

Project adoption18

Technology integrated in the 2PAU- Côte d’Ivoire, BRIDEP- Burundi, Rwanda, AFMPFNSHoA- Somalia, EFPFP- Malawi, EFPP- Guinea, ENSURE- East Africa, ESFSP- Guinea-Bissau, PADCV-PTA- Democratic Republic of the Congo, PADDAMAG- Guinea, Post-Cyclone Recovery Programme- Mozambique, PROCAVA- Mozambique, PUPSAN- Mali, PURPA- Burkina Faso, Regenerative agri- Nigeria, Ethiopia, RVCTP- Gambia, SAPZ-II- Nigeria, SEPAREF- Burundi, Comoros, Somalia, South Sudan, and EFPP- Zimbabwe projects.

See project details ›

Adults 18 and over: Positive high

Others: Positive medium

The poor: Positive medium

Under 18: Positive medium

Women: Positive medium

Climate adaptability: Highly adaptable

Farmer climate change readiness: Significant improvement

Biodiversity: No impact on biodiversity

Carbon footprint: A bit less carbon released

Environmental health: Does not improve environmental health

Soil quality: Improves soil health and fertility

Water use: Much less water used

Problem

Dependence on Rainfall: Over 90% of African maize farming is rainfed, leaving crops vulnerable to unpredictable weather patterns.
Yield Instability: Conventional varieties are highly sensitive to water availability, leading to inconsistent yields.
Crop Failure Risk: Insufficient rainfall can result in complete crop loss, jeopardizing livelihoods.

Solution

Enhanced Resilience: DTMA and WEMA outperform conventional varieties under various water stress levels.
Increased Productivity: Adoption of these varieties leads to substantial increases in maize grain production.
Improved Crop Resilience: Crops become more robust, with heightened resistance to dry spells and low rainfall.

Key points to design your project

This technology addresses water stress in Sub-Saharan maize production, improving productivity and resilience to adverse rainfall. It contributes to climate resilience and SDGs, particularly in food security and poverty reduction. Gender-inclusive access further promotes equitable agricultural development.

To integrate this technology into your project, and create a list of project activities and prerequisites and plan these activities:

- Considering the technology cost of 0.8 to 1.2 USD per kg and a requirement of 25 kg per ha, estimate the quantity of seeds needed for your project.

- As the technology is available in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, include the delivery cost to the project site and account for import clearance and duties if relevant.

A team of trainers could provide training and support during project installation. Include the cost for training and post-training support for using the technology.

Communication support for the technology should be developed (flyers, videos, radio broadcasts, etc.)

For better optimization of the improved maize variety, it is recommended to associate this technology with Imazapyr resistant maize for Striga management (IR maize), Specialized pre-plant fertilizer blending and N topdressing, Maize-legume rotation and intercropping.

To implement the technology in your country, you could collaborate with agricultural development institutes and seed multiplication companies.

0.6 ton/Ha

Yield increase

20—30 %

Larger grain harvest than common type

IP

Unknown

Scaling Readiness describes how complete a technology\’s development is and its ability to be scaled. It produces a score that measures a technology\’s readiness along two axes: the level of maturity of the idea itself, and the level to which the technology has been used so far.

Each axis goes from 0 to 9 where 9 is the “ready-to-scale” status. For each technology profile in the e-catalogs we have documented the scaling readiness status from evidence given by the technology providers. The e-catalogs only showcase technologies for which the scaling readiness score is at least 8 for maturity of the idea and 7 for the level of use.

The graph below represents visually the scaling readiness status for this technology, you can see the label of each level by hovering your mouse cursor on the number.

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 8 out of 9

Uncontrolled environment: tested

Level of use 8 out of 9

Used by some intended users, in the real world

Maturity of the idea										Level of use
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Project	Beneficiaries	Budget	Duration	Key figures
2PAU- Côte d’Ivoire Emergency Food Production Programme	1.8 million small farms.	161.96 million	2022–2023	2,279 tons of corn seeds. 3,539 tons of rice seeds. 134 million cassava cuttings.
BRIDEP- Burundi, Rwanda Multinational - Projet de Développement Intégré Burundi-Rwanda	Information coming soon	Information coming soon	Information coming soon	Information coming soon
AFMPFNSHoA- Somalia Additional Financing to Multinational Programme for Food & Nutrition Security in the Horn of Africa	50,000 people. 250,000 livestock.	5.4 million	2022–2026	100 tons of forage seeds. 16,500 farmers.
EFPFP- Malawi Emergency Food Production Facility Project	500,000 farming households (2.5 million people & 50% women).	20.85 million	2022–2026	70,000 tons of fertilizer. 2,500 tons of certified seeds. 500 extension agents trained.
EFPP- Guinea Guinea Emergency Food Production Programme	35,750 farmers (at least 30% of whom are women). 1,650 livestock farms.	25.23 million	2022–2024	2,000 tons of rice seeds and 750 metric tons of corn. 4,845 tons of NPK fertilizer.
ENSURE- East Africa Enabling Environments for Sustainable Regional Agriculture Extension	3,000,000 farmers.	13.14 million	2024–2027	149,940 farmer leaders & trained farmers. 9,996 trained. 2 → 3.5 t/ha.
ESFSP- Guinea-Bissau Emergency Support to Food Security Project	46,635 vulnerable farming households (at least 50% of which are headed by women).	6.5 million	2022–2024	1,253 tons of certified cereal seeds. 1,350 tons of fertilizer. 37,335 tons of agricultural products.
PADCV-PTA- Democratic Republic of the Congo Projet d’Appui au Developpement des Chaines de Valeurs en soutien au Programme de Transformation de l’Agriculture	900,000 smallholder farmers (including 450,000 women).	321 million	2024–2029	62,000 tons of certified seeds. 30,000 people trained. 5,200 hectares of irrigated rice cultivation.
PADDAMAG- Guinea Project to Support Agropastoral Development, Digitization and Market Access	5,735 producers and merchants (40% women).	32.85 million	2023–2029	4,000 ha of land. 100 km of rural roads. 12 small processing facilities.
Post-Cyclone Recovery Programme- Mozambique Post Cyclone IDAI and Kenneth Emergency Recovery and Resilience Programme	100,000 smallholder farmers (50% women & young people).	5.6 million	2022–2026	100,000 farmers. 500 km of rural roads.
PROCAVA- Mozambique Inclusive Agri-Food Value Chain Development Project	50,800 smallholder farmers (50% women and 30% young people).	105.45 million	2024–2028	170,000 tons of poultry. 1.2 to 2 tons per hectare corn. 0.6 to 1.0 tons per hectare soybeans.
PUPSAN- Mali Emergency Production and Food & Nutrition Security Project	35,274 vulnerable farmers (31.5% women and 20% young people).	7.04 million	2023–2026	1,027.14 tons of certified seed. 2,234 tons of fertilizer.
PURPA- Burkina Faso Projet d’Urgence pour le Renforcement de la Production Agricole	102,000 direct beneficiaries. 330,525 producers, of whom 33.07% are women, 9.40% are youth, and 19.39% are young people	38.87 million	2022–2024	8,710 tons of certified seeds. 11,350 farmers trained.
Regenerative agri- Nigeria, Ethiopia Multinational - Evidence-based regenerative agriculture to address climate change in Africa	Information coming soon	Information coming soon	Information coming soon	Information coming soon
RVCTP- Gambia Additional Financing to the Rice Value Chain Transformation Programme	20,000 smallholder farmers (40% of whom are women and 20% of whom are young people).	3.5 million	2022–2024	3,000 metric tons of subsidized fertilizer. 350 kg of pre-basic seeds. 1,000 farmers trained.
SAPZ-II- Nigeria Multinational- Promotion of Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains in Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones	Information coming soon	Information coming soon	Information coming soon	Information coming soon
SEPAREF- Burundi, Comoros, Somalia, South Sudan Strengthening Emergency Preparedness and Response to Food Crisis	510,500 direct beneficiaries (50% women and 40% youth).	306.97 million	2022–2025	1,500 farmers. 60 climate-smart villages. 55,000 direct jobs (22,000 women & 33,000 young people).
EFPP- Zimbabwe Emergency Food Production Project (AEFPF)	180,000 beneficiaries (40% women)	25.5 million	2022–2026	2 → 4 t/ha (corn and wheat). 400,000t.

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country	Testing ongoing	Tested	Adopted
Kenya	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Malawi	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Mozambique	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Nigeria	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
South Africa	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Tanzania	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Uganda	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Zambia	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Zimbabwe	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ	Subtropic - warm	Subtropic - cool	Tropic - warm	Tropic - cool
Arid
Semiarid
Subhumid		–		–
Humid	–	–	–	–

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Goal 2: zero hunger

Goal 13: climate action

Goal 1: no poverty

Selection: Choose the appropriate DTMA or WEMA variety based on local climate and soil conditions.
Planting: Follow standard maize planting practices, ensuring optimal soil and fertilizer management.
Nutrient Optimization: In low-fertility soils, supplement with inorganic fertilizers to enhance nutrient uptake.
Complementary Practices: Consider legume intercropping, manure application, and mulching for added nutrients and water retention.