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Food Security for African Smallholder Farmers pp 3–26Cite as

Decades of Cultivar Development: A Reconciliation of Maize and Bean Breeding Projects and Their Impacts on Food, Nutrition Security, and Income of Smallholder Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa

Part of the Sustainability Sciences in Asia and Africa book series (SAFS)

Abstract

The past decades have seen the implementation of several multi-national maize and common bean cultivar development projects in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, the impacts of these projects on income generation and food and nutrition security have not been adequately interrogated and documented. This chapter provides a synthesis of some of the past and current multinational maize and common bean breeding projects in terms of international distribution, cultivars released, cultivar adoption rates, and impacts on food, nutrition, and income security in SSA. The information used in this chapter is from reliable published journal articles, institutional reports, and authors’ knowledge of cultivar development and agricultural systems in SSA. Good progress has been made in the past decades in terms of the number of cultivars released with huge yield advantages over unimproved landraces, good tolerance to biotic and abiotic factors. Millions of farmers were moved out of poverty and cushioned from hunger after adopting the improved cultivars. Biofortified maize and bean cultivars with enhanced content of ion, zinc, protein, and provitamin A are proving to be effective solution for malnutrition, which is widespread in SSA. However, more promotional efforts are still needed to increase the adoption of improved cultivars by farmers.

Keywords

  • Cultivar development
  • Maize
  • Common bean
  • Impacts
  • Food security
  • Multinational projects

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Fig. 1.1
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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Agriculture, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

    Aleck Kondwakwenda & Julia Sibiya

  2. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Matopos Research Station, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

    Bruce Mutari

  3. Department of Crop Science, Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Marondera, Zimbabwe

    Kennedy Simango

  4. The International Center of Tropical Agriculture, Nairobi, Kenya

    Eileen Bogweh Nchanji & Jean Claude Rubyogo

  5. The International Center of Tropical Agriculture, Lilongwe, Malawi

    Rowland Chirwa

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  1. Aleck Kondwakwenda
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  2. Bruce Mutari
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  3. Kennedy Simango
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  4. Eileen Bogweh Nchanji
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  5. Rowland Chirwa
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  6. Jean Claude Rubyogo
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  7. Julia Sibiya
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. SANUMARC, University of Namibia, Henties Bay, Namibia

    Dr. Hupenyu Allan Mupambwa

  2. Agricultural Research Council—Natural Resources & Engineering, Pretoria, South Africa

    Dr. Adornis Dakarai Nciizah

  3. Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre (RAVAC), University of Fort Hare, Alice Campus, South Africa

    Patrick Nyambo

  4. Graduate School of Business Leadership, University of South Africa, Midrandx, South Africa

    Dr. Binganidzo Muchara

  5. Department of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Namibia, Hentiesbaai, Namibia

    Dr. Ndakalimwe Naftal Gabriel

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Kondwakwenda, A. et al. (2022). Decades of Cultivar Development: A Reconciliation of Maize and Bean Breeding Projects and Their Impacts on Food, Nutrition Security, and Income of Smallholder Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. In: Mupambwa, H.A., Nciizah, A.D., Nyambo, P., Muchara, B., Gabriel, N.N. (eds) Food Security for African Smallholder Farmers. Sustainability Sciences in Asia and Africa(). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6771-8_1

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