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Introduction
The project
“Enhancing the Nutritional Quality of Locally Adapted Maize Cultivars in
Eastern and Southern Africa by incorporating Quality Protein Maize (QPM)
Traits”, conducted by CIMMYT, The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute
(KARI), Kenya and Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI),
Tanzania, aims to improve the nutritional quality of maize, the staple
food in the region.
Maize dominates
the diets of rural and urban population in the region. It often provides
well over 50% of staple calories in most countries and as high as 80% in
such countries as Malawi in southern Africa. Per capita consumption in
Kenya is about 125 kilograms per year. In some countries maize is a
primary weaning food for babies, putting them at risk of malnutrition,
poor growth and development, because it is deficient in two essential
amino acids namely, lysine and tryptophan. Demand for maize as animal
feed is also rising in the region.
Maize is grown
on more than 15 M ha annually in the region. Yields are low, fluctuating
around 1.5 t/ha. The area under improved varieties as a percentage of
total maize area is very small ranging from around 1% in Tanzania to 56%
in Kenya.
During the last
few decades, CIMMYT scientists have developed “quality protein maize” (QPM)
that looks and tastes like normal maize, and has similar yield and
agronomic performance. But QPM contains 50-100% more lysine and
tryptophan important for human nutrition. QPM has 90% of the nutritive
value of milk protein. It offers tremendous nutritional benefits both
for humans and monogastric animals. For humans, it may play a very
important role in eastern and southern Africa, where maize constitutes a
staple food in the diets of children and adults.
Quality protein
maize infant feeding trials in Ghana and Ethiopia have shown the
superiority of QPM over normal maize. Recent feeding trials with poultry
and pigs in Kenya had similar results.
Improving the
productivity of QPM-based farming in Eastern and Southern Africa could
significantly reduce hunger and improve farmers' livelihoods. Given the
large area and the large number of poor farmers involved in maize
production, the development and adoption of QPM has a significant
potential to elevate incomes and help the region attain self-sufficiency
in basic foods such as maize and meat products.
To accomplish
this, development of QPM versions of locally-adapted, widely-used maize
cultivars offers the quickest option of spreading QPM, bringing its
nutritional benefits to those who need them most in Eastern and Southern
Africa. Adoption of maize varieties with improved yields and yield
stability (i.e., adaptation to smallholder farming systems) will enhance
food security. The availability of quality protein in a favorite staple
food will greatly improve nutrition in the region. Finally, farmers will
have a chance to improve their incomes, through use of QPM as an
ingredient in swine and poultry feeds.
Project objectives
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Introduce the
quality protein trait into promising, widely-grown maize cultivars.
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Establish
links with the seed project supported by The Rockefeller Foundation
for Kenya and Uganda to make available quality seed of QPM to farmers.
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Document and
publicize the benefits of nutritionally-enhanced maize.
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Strengthen the
capacity of national agricultural research systems to develop QPM
using both biotechnology and conventional breeding.
Project Goal
The project's
goal is to improve the nutrition, food security, and incomes of families
in Eastern and Southern Africa by developing and deploying QPM versions
of popular cultivars.
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