Maize varieties dominating sub-Saharan Africa seed market
The data was derived from adoption monitoring household surveys carried out in 13 countries across SSA under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project conducted in the main crop season of 2013 (except Mozambique, which was done in 2014). The survey involved between 400 to 900 farm households, representing 130 districts, 740 villages and 7,670 households depending on the area of maize cultivation in the country.
Names of cultivars and the proportions of plots of each variety mentioned by each household were taken in each country. To determine the age of each variety, reference was made to national and regional catalogues as well as personal contacts with relevant scientists and compiled the release year. The cultivars were then divided into their respective classes of hybrids, improved open pollinated varieties (OPVs), and local cultivars.
Findings of this study have three main implications: a) it contributes to the variety replacement efforts of the national programs and CIMMYT; b) it gives an indication of adoption rates of modern maize cultivars in the surveyed areas across the 13 countries; and c) it enriches the maize catalogues in the eastern Africa, southern Africa, and West Africa regions.