[NAIROBI] A drought-tolerant maize variety could be available to farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2017, according to scientists working on the project.
The study, being conducted by scientists at Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), aims to develop a maize variety that can grow in the arid and semi-arid lands.
According to Sylvester Anami, the lead researcher and a senior research fellow at JKUAT’s Institute of Biotechnology Research, the early stages of the study that started in 2011 with funding mainly from Kenya’s National Council for Science and Technology are showing positive results.
Anami says that the new maize variety is proving significantly tolerant to drought stress.
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