Scalability of Adaptation strategies to drought stress: the case of drought tolerant maize varieties in Kenya

Abstract

Droughts have devastating effects on agricultural productivity and livelihoods, which triggers a quest for adaptation strategies such as the development and deployment of drought tolerant maize varieties (DTMVs). This study examines the scalability of DTMVs in Kenya using household survey data from eight counties. Results show that the 2018 DTMV adoption rate of 26% could be doubled to 52% as farmer knowledge constraints are alleviated, could potentially be further increased to 56% if seed access constraints are addressed, and even rise to 60% if seed affordability constraints are lifted. There is heterogeneity in scalability across counties attributable to differences in levels of scaling efforts. The use of electronic media appears to be a key success factor to create awareness about DTMVs but could exclude more marginalized households and communities, which highlights the need for multipronged awareness strategies. Scalability calls for public-private partnerships to foster a sustained supply of seed to the farming communities at competitive prices.

Demand-side challenges to increase sales of new maize hybrids in Kenya

“…Evidence here suggested that farmers were not seeking out new technologies: most of them came to purchase the variety they knew and trusted, without looking at the available stock. A common argument in research on maize seed adoption has been that low hybrid uptake and the persistence of older hybrids in the market reflected farmers’ lack of information about the quality and traits contained in hybrids--issues which could be resolved, in part, by better informing farmers about hybrids [ 48 , 49 , 51 ].…”

“…Others have pointed to the possibility that promoting strong competition among seed companies would foster investment in the production and marketing of new varieties, based on experiences in the United States where maize hybrids tend to be phased out and replaced by the private sector every three to four years [ 16 , 47 ]. Researchers have also suggested the need to better leverage agricultural extension services, based on the notion that insufficient information about new hybrids was a major bottleneck for greater adoption by smallholders [ 48 , 49 ].…”

Advanced Biotechnological Interventions in Mitigating Drought Stress in Plants

“…Understanding plant adaptive responses to drought is imperative for improving breeding strategies for drought-tolerant crops [ 18 ]. Drought is the most significant environmental stress in agriculture globally, and enhancing yield in water-limited environments is a primary goal of plant breeding [ 19 ]. Strategies such as developing and deploying drought-tolerant maize varieties are crucial in mitigating the detrimental effects of drought on agricultural productivity and livelihoods [ 20 ].…”

Continuing cereals research for sustainable health and well-being

“…Hence it is essential to persist in crop productivity and sustainability research in diverse natural environments, not least under the resource-constrained conditions of smallholder farmers (Kihara et al, 2020;Ritzema et al, 2017); . accelerate plant breeding for nutritional quality and biofortified crop varieties, and scale up seed production and distribution systems to reach more remote and risk-prone regions through innovative institutional arrangements (Simtowe et al, 2021;Tahir et al, 2020); . challenges to agricultural sustainability from conditions of climate change demand integration of natural sciences and social sciences research perspectives (González-Esquivel et al, 2020;Keil et al, 2020;Manalo et al, 2020); .…”