The Brazilian case as a beacon to increase crop production in sub-Saharan Africa

Maize is one of the major agricultural commodities in the world, and a source of food in Africa, representing more than 40 million ha currently harvested on the continent. Despite sub-Saharan Africa's dependence on grain, the maize actual yield (Y-a) of the crop is low when compared to its potential yield. In Brazil, the yield-gap between Y-a and water-limited yield (Y-w) is approximately 50% of Y-w. The objective of this study was to carry out a case study, using upland maize as a reference to identify a set of agricultural areas with similar soil and climate in Brazil and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The climatic similarity between Brazil and SSA countries was verified, seeking homogeneous climatic zones that occur in both regions. The Y-a was determined including the data of at least the last three years of cultivation and were taken from the database of the national institutes of agricultural statistics. The climatic data showed that the SSA had well-distributed rainfall throughout the crop season, being higher than in Brazil, as well as the average air temperature. The average Y-w was 11.3 and 7.4 Mg/ha for Brazil and SSA, respectively. Maize Y-a in SSA was 1.4 Mg/ha, while in Brazil Ya was 5.2 Mg/ha. Y-a represented approximately 9% of Y-w in the SSA. The low Y-a shows the large yield-gap found in SSA. With this, it is evident that the technologies used and the crop management are largely responsible for the yield differences between Brazil and SSA.