Reducing susceptibility to drought under growing conditions as set by farmers: The impact of new generation drought tolerant maize varieties in Uganda

Given the challenges brought about by the increasing frequency of climatic stressors (droughts) and other biotic challenges (pests and diseases), breeding for tolerance to these traits is now seen as an indispensable adjunct to the enhancement of yield potential. Drought tolerant (DT) maize varietie...

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Autores principales: Habte, Endeshaw, Marenya, Paswel Phiri, Beyene, Fekadu, Bekele, Adam
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Frontiers Media 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/129872
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author Habte, Endeshaw
Marenya, Paswel Phiri
Beyene, Fekadu
Bekele, Adam
author_browse Bekele, Adam
Beyene, Fekadu
Habte, Endeshaw
Marenya, Paswel Phiri
author_facet Habte, Endeshaw
Marenya, Paswel Phiri
Beyene, Fekadu
Bekele, Adam
author_sort Habte, Endeshaw
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Given the challenges brought about by the increasing frequency of climatic stressors (droughts) and other biotic challenges (pests and diseases), breeding for tolerance to these traits is now seen as an indispensable adjunct to the enhancement of yield potential. Drought tolerant (DT) maize varieties that do well under moderate drought and outperform (or do not underperform) commercial checks under normal rainfall are becoming available. This study examines the role of these maize varieties in mitigating the effects of drought on maize yields in drought-prone areas of eastern Uganda. We estimate the causal impact of these new generations of maize varieties using a multinomial endogenous switching regression treatment effect framework. The average treatment effects of adopting DT maize show that farmers who actually cultivated DT maize achieve 30% more yield than what they would have obtained with non-DT hybrids. Similarly, average treatment effects on the untreated, revealed that farmers who grew non-DT modern and local maize would have 32 and 54% more yield, respectively, if they instead had adopted DT maize. While being superior to all other maize seeds, the magnitudes of the benefits of DT maize varieties were more pronounced in areas with comparatively less rainfall amount providing strong evidence that the yield potential of these varieties is stable across space and a wide range of rainfall conditions. If the genetic gains of these varieties can be secured over the long term, their impacts in improving the resilience of maize farming systems are likely to be considerably large and favorable.
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spelling CGSpace1298722025-12-08T10:29:22Z Reducing susceptibility to drought under growing conditions as set by farmers: The impact of new generation drought tolerant maize varieties in Uganda Habte, Endeshaw Marenya, Paswel Phiri Beyene, Fekadu Bekele, Adam drought maize varieties resilience farming systems smallholders Given the challenges brought about by the increasing frequency of climatic stressors (droughts) and other biotic challenges (pests and diseases), breeding for tolerance to these traits is now seen as an indispensable adjunct to the enhancement of yield potential. Drought tolerant (DT) maize varieties that do well under moderate drought and outperform (or do not underperform) commercial checks under normal rainfall are becoming available. This study examines the role of these maize varieties in mitigating the effects of drought on maize yields in drought-prone areas of eastern Uganda. We estimate the causal impact of these new generations of maize varieties using a multinomial endogenous switching regression treatment effect framework. The average treatment effects of adopting DT maize show that farmers who actually cultivated DT maize achieve 30% more yield than what they would have obtained with non-DT hybrids. Similarly, average treatment effects on the untreated, revealed that farmers who grew non-DT modern and local maize would have 32 and 54% more yield, respectively, if they instead had adopted DT maize. While being superior to all other maize seeds, the magnitudes of the benefits of DT maize varieties were more pronounced in areas with comparatively less rainfall amount providing strong evidence that the yield potential of these varieties is stable across space and a wide range of rainfall conditions. If the genetic gains of these varieties can be secured over the long term, their impacts in improving the resilience of maize farming systems are likely to be considerably large and favorable. 2023 2023-03-31T22:48:54Z 2023-03-31T22:48:54Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/129872 en Open Access application/pdf Frontiers Media Habte, E., Marenya, P., Beyene, F., & Bekele, A. (2023). Reducing susceptibility to drought under growing conditions as set by farmers: The impact of new generation drought tolerant maize varieties in Uganda. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.854856
spellingShingle drought
maize
varieties
resilience
farming systems
smallholders
Habte, Endeshaw
Marenya, Paswel Phiri
Beyene, Fekadu
Bekele, Adam
Reducing susceptibility to drought under growing conditions as set by farmers: The impact of new generation drought tolerant maize varieties in Uganda
title Reducing susceptibility to drought under growing conditions as set by farmers: The impact of new generation drought tolerant maize varieties in Uganda
title_full Reducing susceptibility to drought under growing conditions as set by farmers: The impact of new generation drought tolerant maize varieties in Uganda
title_fullStr Reducing susceptibility to drought under growing conditions as set by farmers: The impact of new generation drought tolerant maize varieties in Uganda
title_full_unstemmed Reducing susceptibility to drought under growing conditions as set by farmers: The impact of new generation drought tolerant maize varieties in Uganda
title_short Reducing susceptibility to drought under growing conditions as set by farmers: The impact of new generation drought tolerant maize varieties in Uganda
title_sort reducing susceptibility to drought under growing conditions as set by farmers the impact of new generation drought tolerant maize varieties in uganda
topic drought
maize
varieties
resilience
farming systems
smallholders
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/129872
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