This study provides a detailed analysis of the extent and determinants of poverty in the maize-based rural economies of selected districts in southern African countries of Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia. Poverty profiles showed that households that were absolutely poor had significantly smaller family sizes, fewer livestock, smaller farm sizes, smaller number of illiterate household members, and less number of important assets such as phones and radios. The study also details the extent and determinants of poverty in the study countries using quantile regression. The importance of maize technology use and resource allocation to the crop in determining the magnitude of poverty is an important finding as the sampled households were essentially semi-subsistent with limited market orientation. This finding also justifies the effort being exerted on the development and deployment of maize and maize-related technologies in rural communities of southern Africa.

This study aimed at estimating the implicit prices farmers are willing to pay (WTP) for maize traits with deliberate focus on drought tolerance. Using choice experiment, we generated 12600 observations from a random sample of 1400 households in communal areas within 14 districts of Zimbabwe. Taste parameters and heterogeneities (scale and residual taste) were estimated using the generalized multinomial logit model (G-MNL) and its different versions. Drought tolerance, grain yield, large grain size, covered cob tip, big cob and semi flint texture were the most preferred traits by rural Zimbabweans. The WTP values were estimated using the WTP space approach. Sample farmers are, for example, willing to pay a premium for drought tolerance that is 1.75 times the amount they are willing to pay for an increase of 1 ton in grain yield per acre, 8.3 times the value they attach for a change from small to big cob size, and 14.7 times the willingness to pay for semi-flint texture over dent texture of maize. The uncertainty that DT might not be appealing to poor farmers as much as some other technologies can only be cleared only if the promotion of DT materials is done in the right manner and to the right farm community. Innovative ways of promoting DT maize vis-a-vis creating awareness in contextual understanding of drought and drought risk shall be employed to enhance adoption of new DT maize varieties by risk prone farming communities. Given the high level of rural literacy and the high rate of adoption of improved maize in Zimbabwe, trait based promotion and marketing of varieties would be the right strategy.

This research investigated the efficiency of the crop enterprise mix farmers formulate to cope with moisture stress risk given the different constraints they are living with. Farmers’ moisture risk coping strategies are mainly explained by the allocation of farm land among the different crop enterprises they produce. In the less moisture stressed (LMS) parts of Kalu district, farmers increase land allotted to Tef, chickpea, lentil, field pea, and emmer wheat when they expect moisture stress. Farmers in the highly moisture stressed (HMS) areas of the district increase land under Tef, chickpea, maize, and haricot bean instead of sorghum. The results from the analysis using parametric linear programming (PLP) justify the efficiency of farmers’ moisture stress risk coping strategies. The results also imply the necessity for greater emphasis on land allocation to pulses and cereals that have attractive market prices to improve the returns to farming

This paper discusses drought risk perception and management in five southern African countries. A sample of 1108 households was randomly drawn with different sample sizes across countries. Data generated were analyzed using descriptive statistics and non-parametric statistical models. Drought was reported to be the most important livelihood challenge in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, whereas it was indicated to be second, next to sickness and mortality of a family member, in Angola and Mozambique. Maize varieties in general and improved open pollinated and hybrid varieties in particular are being considered very risky in terms of predictability and reliability of yield levels. Given the importance of maize and the vulnerability of the farming communities in the region, this implies that drought and risks associated to it will have paramount and potentially irreversible consequences in the poor sections of the region. Despite the fact that yield size is among the most preferred traits, farmers’ strong reference to maize as a risky crop urges refocusing breeding activities to generation of germplasms with reliable yield distribution. Farmers have also shown strong interest in drought tolerance, early maturity, and good performance under poor rainfall traits of maize implying to the need for targeted breeding