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productivity while reversing widespread soil degradation. These interventions need to be aligned with
more profitable value chains, include risk management strategies, and allow farmers to accumulate
assets. Value chains in stress‐prone and outlying environments are often weak and need to be
developed. Research, extension, input supply and markets responsive to farmers needs—in both public
and private sectors—need to be strengthened. Efforts should particularly focus on empowering women
and young adults, the population segments that hold the greatest leverage for development.
Target Group 2: Market‐oriented, technology constrained smallholders in more benign environments
There are many smallholder farmers who benefit from adequate market access but lack the
technologies or know‐how to optimize their production systems. They have a strong opportunity to
increase maize productivity and stabilize maize prices for urban and rural consumers as well as providing
income for themselves. Especially since grain prices are increasing, they are avid to obtain better
varieties and farming practices.
Private research providers show little interest in this group because market size and margins are either
too small or suitable technology would be expensive to develop compared with high‐margin markets in
irrigated areas or other areas favored by commercial farmers. Also, two decades of significant
underinvestment in agronomy research and extension have left large human resource and knowledge
gaps in public research and extension systems that translate into significant information gaps for this
target group. This target group comprises an estimated 470 million two‐dollar‐a‐day poor people, of
whom the vast majority (367 million) is maize‐dependent. There are also at least 49 million stunted
children. These systems are located in East Asia, South Asia, sub‐Saharan Africa, and Latin America & the
Caribbean.
To boost production significantly among this group of farmers, NARSs, NAESs and local seed
companies—which are willing to enter areas that are unattractive to multinational companies—could be
empowered by MAIZE to use cutting‐edge tools to develop locally‐adapted varieties. They could also be
aided in applying precision agriculture methods and modern communication technologies to identify
and rapidly scale out best practices.
Spill‐over benefits: Smallholder commercial farmers and large commercial farmers
Farming systems not included in Target Groups 1 and 2 are dominated by larger‐scale commercial
farmers or are in temperate maize zones. They are generally well served by private companies and
strong national research programs from which smallholders in these areas also benefit. Even though
sowing 36% of all maize areas, these farming systems are populated by less than 10% of all two‐dollar‐aday
poor (70 million), maize‐dependent poor (66 million) and stunted children (at least 5 million). This
group will benefit from spillovers from MAIZE through NARSs and private companies that use and adapt
R&D products targeted at the other farming systems.
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