Demand for maize is increasing due to an increased number of people transitioning to meat-based diets driving demand for animal feed. Drought has been identified as the number one factor in impacting maize yields in the region. Over 80% of maize grown in tropical Asia is rainfed, leaving the 19 million hectares of maize subject to stress caused by variations in monsoon rains. As such, maize is a good point of reference when thinking about the importance of production of drought-tolerant crops (Zaidi, et al., 2016).
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