Print This PagePledge Award Winner: Water Efficient Maize for Africa
The team at Monsanto, with guidance from its Biotechnology Advisory Council, co-developed a public-private partnership called Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) and secured $47M from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffet Foundation to develop drought-tolerant white maize for Africa. The project, led by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), partners Monsanto with CIMMYT and the national research programs of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and Mozambique to improve yield stability under drought conditions and to make investment in hybrid maize and fertilizer less risky for smallholder farmers. The maize varieties developed through WEMA are expected to increase yields 20 to 35 percent under moderate drought conditions compared to current varieties, resulting in 2 million additional tons of food and 14 to 21 million people having more to eat.
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