Maize-AFS 2018 Annual Technical Report

Abstract

Today, maize is the most important food crop in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, and is a key Asian crop. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 50 percent of the population consume maize. It is the preferred food for one third of all malnourished children and 900 million poor people worldwide. As the world’s population increases and more people start including (higher) amounts of meat, poultry and dairy into their diets, demand for maize is expected to rise: Between now and 2050 the demand for maize in the developing world is expected to double. By 2025, maize will be the developing world’s largest crop. This puts pressure on agricultural research and development to further enhance sustainable productivity of maize-based systems, and significantly expand the uptake of improved maize technologies. In 2018, more than 50% of MAIZE innovations were germplasm-based and the majority belonged to stage 3 (ready for up-take).