JANUARY 2019 GERMINATION.CA 77 for more productive bean plants was perfectly timed. Common beans are extremely important as a protein source for smallholder farmers and people living in lower socioeconomic circumstances around the develop- ing world, particularly in southeast Africa, where beans are the primary protein source. Source: news.psu.edu ZIMBABWE AS CLIMATE EXPERTS forecast another climate-warming El Nino in early 2019, maize varieties developed under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) initiative represent low-cost innovations that could improve the crop’s climate resilience and the liveli- hoods of millions of family farmers across Africa, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Drought tolerant (DT) maize was among 20 success stories fea- tured at the Innovation Fair of the International Symposium on Agricultural Innovation for Family Farmers, organized and hosted by FAO in Rome in November 2018. “Since the early 1990s, farmers in Zimbabwe face erratic rains and maize crops often fail due to frequent droughts,’’ said Cosmos Magorokosho, maize breeder based at the Harare, Zimbabwe, office of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). More than 160 new maize varieties have been released, including 15 in Zimbabwe that yield 25 to 30 per cent more than conventional varieties under dry conditions and perform as well as those varieties under normal rainfall. In one study in drought-prone southern Zimbabwe, farmers using the DT varieties in dry years were able to harvest up to 600 kilograms more maize per hectare — worth $240 and enough maize for nine months for an average family of six people. The added food security comes at no additional cost and, if farmers choose to sell the grain, it brings extra income for other household needs. Source: cimmyt.org More than 160 new maize varieties have been released, including 15 in Zimbabwe that yield 25 to 30 per cent more than conventional varieties. PHOTO: CIMMYT