Demand-Driven Technologies for Sustainable Maize ... - IITA

xiiiForewordMaize (Zea mays L) is one of the most important staple crops in sub-Saharan Africa. Its role in the nutrition of the peoples of West andCentral Africa (WCA) has increased tremendously during the lastfour decades. Consequently, research to improve the yield potentialhas been high in the agricultural agenda in the subregion, initiallyon an individual country basis. Unfortunately, most of the constraintsto maize production were too formidable for individual countries toovercome. Because the constraints were crosscutting, there was anopportunity to pool the available resources to tackle the constraintsand minimize duplication of efforts. One effective way to do this wasto establish a maize research network for the subregion. The West andCentral Africa Collaborative Maize Research Network (WECAMAN)was, therefore, inaugurated in 1987.WECAMAN has been funded by the USAID since its inception todate. Between 1998 and 2001, UNDP and IFAD provided additionalfi nancial support for the execution of the Africa Maize Stress Projectof the Network. The Nippon Foundation has, since 2002, providedadditional fi nancial support for the development and dissemination ofQuality Protein Maize.The major thrust of WECAMAN has been on the development ofearly and extra-early varieties and accompanying agronomic practices.The Network has been able to attract funds in phases and has hadtremendous impact in developing and promoting the transfer ofdemand-driven technologies for maize farmers and end-users. A majorbreakthrough is the development of early and extra-early varietiesfor the marginal rainfall agroecological zones, such as the northernfringes of the northern Guinea savanna and the Sudan savanna, aswell as the second season in the forest ecologies. Availability of thesevarieties has not only opened new frontiers for maize production buthas also reduced the so-called “hunger gap” in the savannas. Therate of adoption of improved early and extra-early maize varieties inthe savannas has gone far beyond the expectation of WECAMANcollaborators and has revolutionized maize production in WCA.A major strategy has been to emphasize technology transfer andimprove the research and development capacities of collaboratorsin all member countries. Over the years, nearly 50% of availablecollaborative research funds have been allocated to TechnologyTransfer and Community Seed Production. WECAMAN has organizedworkshops, training courses, consultation visits, visiting scientistschemes, and scientifi c monitoring tours to enhance the capacityof different cadres of research staff within the national agriculturalresearch systems. Specifi cally, the Network has upgraded the skills