6 July 2011: The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has announced a US$170 million global alliance and research programme to double the productivity of maize farms and increase their resilience to climate change.

Maize constitutes the preferred staple food source for more than 900 million people in 94 developing countries, including one-third of the world’s malnourished children. MAIZE — A Global Alliance for Improving Food Security and the Livelihoods of the Resource-poor in the Developing World is expected to contribute to food security and rural poverty reduction. The new crop varieties, knowledge and other products resulting from the CGIAR’s collaborative research will be made widely available, at no cost, to individuals and organizations working for sustainable agricultural development throughout the world. Under the research programme, 40 million smallholder farm family members are expected to see direct benefits by 2020 and 175 million by 2030. The programme is expected to provide enough maize to meet the annual food demands of an additional 135 million consumers by 2020 and 600 million by 2030.

The global alliance that will carry out the research programme includes 130 national agricultural research institutes, 18 regional and international organizations, 21 advanced agricultural research institutes, 75 universities worldwide, 46 private sector organizations, 42 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and farmer associations, and 11 country governments that will host offices dedicated to the programme. The programme will be implemented the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), and the International Institute of Tropic Agriculture (IITA). [World Bank Press Release]