MAIZE delivers “valuable solutions” for critical needs, according to an external review

The CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) “uniquely fills a gap at the global and regional level, positioning it to continue catalyzing good science across borders,” according to a new report.

Commissioned by the CGIAR Advisory Services Shared Secretariat (CAS Secretariat), the report assesses the research-for-development program’s achievements and operations over the course of its second phase, from 2017-2019.

The reviewers commend MAIZE’s “valuable” technology transfer in the areas of double haploid production and stress-tolerance phenotyping, as well as its “proactive and productive” incorporation of crosscutting gender and youth focused issues in major projects such as Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA). They note that climate change is “central to all that the [program] is doing.”

In addition to the exceptional quality of the program’s scientific inputs and the overall quality of its outputs, the reviewers note the program’s capacity to mobilize “stakeholders, resources and knowledge to rapidly deliver valuable solutions for a critical need.” The review authors specifically note MAIZE’s efforts towards halting the spread of maize lethal necrosis (MLN).

While, like all CGIAR Research Programs, MAIZE is due to conclude at the end of 2021, much of the program’s pioneering work will continue under new guises, such as the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project.