-SCIDEVNET
With traditional farming practices, Makhanu says, his harvest was limited to six bags of maize, and less than one bag of beans. The CA-based techniques have increased his harvest to 30-35 bags of maize per acre, and he predicts yields increase as crop residues improves the organic matter in the soil..
Maize is currently grown on 35 million hectares of land in Africa and is easily the most important staple food crop in the continent, feeding more than 200-300 million people and providing income security to millions of smallholder farmers. Nonetheless, African maize growers face many challenges, including lower than average yields, crop susceptibility to pests and diseases, and abiotic stresses such as droughts. They generally lack access to high yielding improved seed and other farming innovations that could help them overcome those challenges.
