Tanzania to Grow New Maize Variety
Tanzania to grow new maize variety
By Zephania Ubwani, Nairobi
Tanzania will start cultivating water efficient and high yielding maize varieties under a five-year project supported by the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Centre (CIMMYT).
Two maize varieties - TAN 250 and TAN 254 - have been developed for the purpose after years of experimental trials involving local agricultural research institutes.
The transgenic maize varieties can yield three to four tonnes a hectare compared to between one and two tonnes currently produced using traditional varieties, according to experts.
"They would ensure good harvests, food security and more income to the majority of small holder farmers," said Ms Anne Wangalachi, the CIMMYT corporate communications officer in the Nairobi regional office.
She told The Citizen on the sidelines of the Science Reporting Workshop for Journalists from the East African region that focal areas for the pilot phase of the project would be Morogoro and Arusha regions.
Implementing agencies include the Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) and TOSCI, a government seed certification institute, both based in Arusha, Tanseed International, a private seed firm located in Morogoro, World Vision and women groups.
"These are varieties with high yields under conditions of drought which have been tested under the prevailing local conditions. The ultimate goal is to substitute them with the varieties presently used," she said.
Similar seed varieties have been developed and are being marketed in Kenya and Uganda. Training of researchers and improvement of research facilities for sustainability is currently underway in the two countries.
However, she feared that the Tanzania government may delay approval of the new seeds developed through genetic engineering whose regulatory framework is not yet in place in the country.
Unlike Kenya and Uganda, its closest neighbours, Tanzania has not yet tested genetically engineered crops although some experts say it can benefit from the technology.
"Development of the drought tolerant varieties costs money and takes time. Sometimes the government agencies delay approving them for country-wide use," Ms Wangalachi explained.
Experts with the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (Costech) believe the new seed varieties developed under the project can increase yields by between 20 and 35 per cent under moderate drought conditions.
That would translate into about two million additional tonnes of food during drought years. Maize cultivation has perennially been constrained by erratic rains.
In the next ten years CIMMYT envisages to distribute the new drought resistant maize varieties to 13 other sub-Saharan African countries where the crop is the staple food.
