Hybrid Maize and the legacy of George Shull

White maize is by far the most important crop in East & Southern Africa. The grain is palatable; crop yields are high in comparison to alternative grain crops; labour demand is low. Well over 200 million people in sub-Saharan Africa rely on maize as their principal staple crop.

Remarkably, for a crop so critical to food security across half the African continent, maize is a relatively recent introduction. The Portuguese brought it to Africa early in the 16th century, since when it has spread throughout the continent. Its popularity owes much to its productivity : under the right conditions, commercial farmers in Southern Africa have achieved yields in excess of 10 MT/hectare for hybrid maize. Indeed, I remember during one visit to the Mpongwe farms in the Zambian copperbelt, the General Manager, Patrick Tobin, proclaiming his delight that he would soon be eligible to join the “ten tonne” club of Zimbabwean commercial farmers (though I never knew if such a club really existed).

But yields like this are only possible where farmers are using hybrid maize seed. Exactly 100 years ago, an American plant scientist, George Shull, published research into the phenomenon of hybrid vigour in maize (enhanced yields through hybridization). Within 20 years, hybrid seed maize offering significant yield improvements was on sale in the USA, and the technology quickly spread across the world. Everywhere, that is, except Africa, where hybrid maize still makes up only about 25% of the total area planted to maize – despite its manifest yield benefits. To put this statement in context, smallholder farmers using traditional open-pollinated varieties of maize, probably average yields of about 1 MT per hectare in comparison to Mpongwe’s 10 MT target – a factor of ten. This colossal inefficiency is a major contributor to the continuing food insecurity on the continent and, in light of the ever increasing population, a major risk to the future.

This is a simple example of why it is so important to invest in Africa’s seed industry, from breeder to multiplier through production, distribution and retail. Access to and utilization of improved maize seed has the potential to transform African agriculture. African Agricultural Capital (AAC) has already invested in four seed companies in the region and it is both my hope and my intention that AAC will continue to look actively for opportunities to invest in the seed sector in the future.

For more information on this and other important crops in sub-Saharan Africa, it is well worth reading Securing the Harvest, by Joe de Vries and Gary Toennissen. Both work for the Rockefeller Foundation and both were instrumental in the foundation and initial capitalisation of AAC. I owe them a debt of gratitude.