In some parts of Southeast Asia, drought cuts farmers’ yields in 6 out of 10 years. Now drought tolerant maize is set to reach farmers across the region, thanks to capacity and relationships built by a CIMMYT-led project. ”Many of the hybrids we’ve already released use CIMMYT germplasm - without it we couldn’t make such good hybrids for farmers and we couldn’t make such a big impact on incomes or development,” says Fan Xingming, maize breeder and Director General of the Institute of Food Crops, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YAAS), China.