Biologist taking on climate change with new maize

6 hours ago

Lewis AdamsEssex

News image — Dr John Ferguson believes the work will be key for future food security

University of Essex Dr John Ferguson is wearing a white lab coat over a checked shirt. He has brown hair and a beard. — Dr John Ferguson believes the work will be key for future food security

A biologist has been handed £2.8m to develop high-yielding maize that uses less water, to help farmers fight climate change.

The four-year project will see University of Essex academic Dr John Ferguson create new varieties of the crop, which is a vital source of food across the world.

He hopes these new hybrids will then be developed to support industrial agriculture and subsistence farming within Sub-Saharan Africa.

"As climate change makes drought and water shortage an increasingly important constraint on crop production, we need to rethink how maize varieties are developed," said Ferguson.

His crop will focus on the stomata - which are microscopic pores found on the leaf surface - that regulate gas exchange with the atmosphere.

These pores account for about 95% of plant-water loss.

But Ferguson will work on a hybrid with increased resistance to water loss, and will aim to do it without compromising photosynthesis.

The crop will be grown in a laboratory.

"Our project builds on fundamental research showing that reducing the number of stomata on the leaf can help plants conserve water and maintain yields during drought," the academic added.

John Devine/BBC A field full of green maize crops. There is blue sky and white clouds above. — Maize is used for products including cereal and animal feed

The United Nations has said East Africa relies on 20% of all global food aid, because of repeated droughts affecting its own crops.

It has said the effect of climate change on Africa's food security is "extremely significant".

In 2016, scientists said global temperatures were rising faster than the development of crop varieties and said action to speed up this development was urgently needed.

Prof Terence McGenity, head of school of life sciences at the University of Essex, said: "As climate change puts growing pressure on crop yields worldwide, this fellowship will help position Essex at the forefront of breeding the resilient, high-yielding varieties that global food security will depend on."

Ferguson was awarded funding by UK Research and Innovation, which is a government body.