Yield effects of selected agronomic innovation packages in maize cropping systems of six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

The main goal of the study is to quantify the effects of a) change in nitrogen fertilization rate, b) adjustment of sowing date, c) implementation of new cultivars, and d) supplementary irrigation on maize cropping systems across six African countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso. For this purpose, 30 years (1980-2010) of climate data are used as well as soil and management information obtained from global datasets at 0.5° x 0.5° spatial resolution. The nitrogen and cultivar packages were tested for all six countries whereas the changes in sowing dates (Ghana and Malawi) and the irrigation (Ethiopia) package were used in specific countries only. The crop modelling framework SIMPLACE was used to test the effects of innovation packages at the country level