Tanzania has the second largest area planted to maize in Africa, after Nigeria. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) data, approximately 4.12 million ha of land was planted
to maize in Tanzania in 2012. Other staples include cassava, paddy, common bean, sorghum, sweet potato,banana, groundnut, sunflower and several others. A Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) adoption monitoring survey of 900 maize-growing households (HH) in nine districts in northern Tanzania conducted in 2012 found that farmers allocate nearly 70 percent of their land to this crop.