ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 focuses on maize, which is one of the main staple food crops for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South America, providing food and nutrition security. The chapter reviews the major production constraints including production and post-harvest related challenges. The chapter presents experiences from the sub-Saharan region focusing on conservation agriculture and agroecology as a strategy towards sustainable intensification. The chapter provides recommendations to improve maize value chains through sustainable intensification approaches to improve soil fertility and water conservation at the farm level, capacity building of smallholder farmers and increasing access to quality inputs and mechanization. The chapter also emphasizes the need for developing efficient agro-advisory services, setting up functional value chain actor platforms, investing in better storage in the maize growing areas, mainstreaming gender and youth and providing a stable and favourable policy environment for maize value chain improvements.
