What is QPM?

• a new type of maize known as Quality Protein Maize (QPM) developed over a 30-year period at CIMMYT
• contains double the lysine and tryptophan (building blocks of proteins), relative to normal maize.
• Looks and tastes like normal maize.
• similar yield and agronomic performance to regular maize.
• developed through conventional breeding and is not a genetically modified organism (GMO).
• has 90% of the nutritive value of milk protein.

• Farmers report that local dishes prepared with QPM, including injera, boiled maize and … are sweeter and have better textural character than normal maize dishes.
• Children in ‘QPM villages’ and ‘normal maize villages’ found higher growth rates among those on QPM-based diets (all other factors being equal).
• Pigs fed on QPM gain weight at double the rate of pigs fed on normal maize.
• Pigs fed on QPM-based rations had equal of better growth rates than those on regular maize rations; QPM-based rations were 20% less expensive.
• Broilers raised on QPM had the same feed intake, weight gain and taste as broilers raised on the normal, non-QPM commercial feed.