DuPont collaborates on GM corn for Africa

Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, recently announced it will be a partner in the newly-formed alliance of public and private agriculture organisations called Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS). 

The goal of IMAS is to improve food security and livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa. The alliance will create and share new corn varieties that use fertiliser more efficiently and help smallholder farmers get higher yields.

IMAS will be led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide funding through US$19.5 million in grants. Pioneer Hi-Bred, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and the South African Agricultural Research Council (ARC) will provide significant in-kind contributions, including staff, infrastructure, seed, traits, technology, training and know-how.

IMAS participants will use cutting-edge biotechnology tools to develop varieties that ultimately yield 30-50% more than currently available varieties with the same amount of nitrogen fertiliser applied and/or when grown on poorer soils. The varieties developed will be made available royalty-free to seed companies that sell to the region's smallholder farmers.

The IMAS project will apply scientific innovations to provide long-term solutions for African farmers, developing corn varieties suited to Kenya's diverse farming ecologies, said Ephraim Mukisira, KARI director.