Corn Dossier 2024

The importance of maize in Latin America goes beyond its relevance as a staple food and source of income for millions of people. It also lies in its potential as a strategic crop to address future challenges related to food security, nutrition, and climate change.  

The Latin American Maize Network is made up of researchers, professors, and technicians from research institutes, public and private universities, and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), who carry out research and technology transfer for maize farming systems in Latin America.  

The project "Frontier Technologies to Boost Sustainable Maize Production in the Americas – Tech Maíz," funded by the Ibero-American Science and Technology Program for Development (CYTED), has been running for three years, training researchers from various countries and promoting the use of new technological tools for the sustainable intensification of maize cultivation. It has also supported the organization of the XXIV and XXV Latin American Maize Meetings.  

Having a network of maize researchers across Latin American countries is crucial because it facilitates knowledge exchange, enabling the sharing of scientific advances, cultivation techniques, and solutions to common problems such as pests, diseases, climate change, adaptation to local conditions, food security, sustainability, biodiversity, institutional collaboration, and access to international funding and other financial resources that can be difficult to obtain without working in a network.  

This dossier gathers relevant articles from countries such as Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala, and Bolivia, developed by leading maize researchers in Latin America. These articles address, from various perspectives, the opportunities and challenges of genetic improvement in the region, notable advances in the development of biofortified maize, the improvement of drought tolerance—an increasingly significant challenge in the context of climate change—economic studies on maize production in Ecuador, analyzing factors that affect productivity, profitability, and sustainability within the national context. This special edition also reports on a methodology to conserve maize biodiversity and reduce the erosion of genetic resources or the loss of native seed, phenomena that have been accentuated recently by the impact of climate variability and human activities.  

Furthermore, it highlights studies on agronomic practices to improve the efficiency of water use, fertilizers, and biostimulants, which help increase crop yields. A study on the maize disease complex known as "asphalt spot" is also reported, as it causes significant yield losses, among other topics of relevance for the scientific community.  

This collection of research reflects the commitment of Latin American researchers to developing solutions for the challenges facing the agricultural sector, particularly maize cultivation, a cornerstone for the well-being and progress of the region. 

Guest Editor: María Gabriela Albán Guijarro, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador

This thematic collection was coordinated by the guest editor listed above and consists of articles originally published in regular issues of the journal.