b'Farmer Osias Guillen Zambrano harvests his maize in Nuevo Mxico, Chiapas.PHOTO: CIMMYT/P. LOWE.Similarly, in Malawi, drought-tolerant maize yields increased by 44% and the adoption of newer maize hybrids has acceler-ated, with the average age of varieties decreasing from 14 to 10 years between 2014 and 2021, he notes. CIMMYT is also collaborating with U.S.-based seed compa-nies to develop genetically modified (transgenic) drought-toler-ant maize tailored for African conditions.Beyene predicts that within the next five to 10 years, AI and machine learning will enhance drought-tolerant maize breed-ing by analyzing phenotypic, genotypic and weather data to develop adaptable lines and hybrids across Africa and beyond. Cowpea: Small Seed, Big Climate SwaggerHighly-nutritious and even called the poor mans meat, cowpea is a saviour crop in poor soils and scorching heat. As a legume, it also improves soil health. University of California Riverside has long had a cowpea breeding program and team member Bao-Lam Huynh notes that the drought tolerance of cowpea varieties is variable. It can be affected by drought timing and severity, coupling with heat stress, soil nutrient defi-ciency, pests and diseases.Variation in maturity and stay-green traits among the eight-parent These problems are prevalent in cowpea production regionscowpea MAGIC population under restricted irrigation at the in the Sudano-Sahel region of West Africa, causing typical on- University of California Coachella Valley Agricultural Research farm cowpea yields to be far below known yield potential, heStation in Thermal, California.PHOTO: BAO-LAM HUYNH, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDEsays. DECEMBER 2025SEEDWORLD.COM /43'