25
Oct
Can TELA maize solve the acute food shortages in sub-Saharan Africa? (Cornell Alliance for Science)
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most food-insecure region in the world, with an estimated 237 million throughout the region suffering from chronic undernutrition.
Frequent droughts are partially to blame for the persistent food shortages and the dry conditions make farming particularly challenging for the region’s smallholders. The TELA Maize Project has been working on commercializing genetically modified (GM) drought-tolerant and insect-resistant maize varieties for more than a decade and field trials are now beginning to raise hopes for finding a long-term solution to the region’s food insecurity.
