Sufficient amount of rainfall, though late, in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh has revived hopes of

a bumper maize crop. These two southern states, which account for over 30 per cent of the
country’s annual maize production, are set to record a 25 per cent increase in the production of
maize at 4.6 million tonnes for the current kharif season despite a 6.25 per cent drop in the area
under cultivation.

According to agriculture department officials in Andhra Pradesh, the area under maize
cultivation has witnessed a drop of 17.5 per cent to 438,000 hectares compared to the last kharif
season. The drop in area under maize is mainly due to the shift in cropping pattern. Farmers in
the state have made a large-scale diversion towards paddy and cotton due to better rainfall this
year, the officials pointed out. However, the production is likely to see an increase of 44 per cent
to 1.42 million tonnes due to rise in productivity. This was possible due to timely sowing as a
result of good rainfall and negligible incidence of pest attack across growing regions in the state,
officials stated.

The harvesting of the crop for the current season is expected to commence by middle of October
and the new crop will hit the market by the end of October. Compared to Andhra Pradesh, the
situation is far better in Karnataka, where maize sowing has been carried out on 1.15 million
hectares as against 1.16 million hectares last year. The production is estimated to increase 18-19
per cent to 3.2 million tonnes. Though the sowing was delayed due to late arrival of monsoon in
the state, the output is likely to be higher than last year because of fair and wide distribution of
rain.

In Davanagere district, which is the major growing area in the state, the sowing has been
completed on 173,000 hectares and the production is estimated at 800,000 tonnes. The crop in
Karnataka is likely to be harvested towards the end of November.

The department of agriculture in Karnataka has recommended Rs 925 a quintal for the current
kharif crop, an increase of 5.1 per cent over Rs 880 a quintal announced by the Centre.
Meanwhile, farmers in Davanagere have demanded the government to announce a price of Rs
1,500 a quintal. They have warned of an agitation if the government fails to meet their demand
before October 2.

Currently, prices for old stock are quoted at Rs 11,000 a tonne. However, the prices for the fresh
crop may not be at this level. The traders expect them to be around Rs 9,500 a tonne initially and
as the arrivals increase, the prices may settle at around Rs 9,000 a tonne, a marginal drop of 5.2
per cent. However, prices will be higher by 7.9 per cent over the minimum support price of Rs
8,800 a tonne announced by the Centre for the current year.

“We expect the prices to settle at around Rs 9,000 a tonne for November and December. Prices
will gradually move up to around Rs 9,250-9,500 by January next year”, Sanjay Jain, purchase
manager at Riddhi Siddhi Gluco Biols, an Ahmedabad-based maker of maize-based starch and
derivatives said.

The seed grade maize is currently quoted at Rs 11,700 a quintal at the spot market in Nizamabad
in Andhra Pradesh.
The country’s overall production of maize is likely to be around 15.5 million tonne compared to
12 million tonne last year, showing a growth of 29 per cent. The Rabi crop is estimated at 4.5
million tonne this year.

Commodity

Description

Maize is a type of cereal grain. In countries

like United States, Australia and Canada, it is
known as corn. It has a nutritional value for
both animals and humans. The word maize
means “ one that sustains life” and also an
indian legend says that maize was the food of
the gods that created the earth. It was first
adopted and cultivated by the Latin American
countries around 7000 years ago. Hybrid maize
is one the variety of maize which generally
have a high  yield level and that is why it is
most favored by the farmers. Another varieties
of  Maize are Sweet corn, Dent corn, Flint
corn, Popcorn, Flour corn, Sweet corn and Pod
corn.

Overview

Maize is the most important crop in the world

after wheat and rice. It has continued to be the
leading crop in terms of production and area of
land on which it has been produced during the
last decade. It is as much a significant crop in
the American countries like rice and wheat in
Asia. Maize has a wide variety of usage too. It 
is used as a feed and in the production of 
alcoholic beverages and of food sweeteners,
starch, oil and proteins. Recently, it has been
discovered that maize or corn can also be used
in the production of fuel. United states of
America is a major corn producing country.
The states in US like Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska,
Minnesota and Indiana contributes to over
80% of the total production in US. The
production of maize was 614.3 million tons in
2003 and was still rising in the later years.
Consumption of corns is also on an increasing
level. It is basically consumed for three uses –
as food, as feed for animals and as raw
material for industry. USA and China are the
major maize consuming countries.

As USA is the largest corn producing country,

it is also the largest exporter of maize to the
rest of the world. Argentina and Brazil comes
on the 2nd and 3rd place. On the other hand,
the major share of maize imports is constituted
by: -

 Japan
 Korea
 Taiwan
 Mexico
 Egypt
 Malaysia
 European Union
 Colombia.

History

Maize has a very long and interesting history

behind it. There are many stories and legends
relating to the origin of corn in different
cultures. Maize is considered to be a human
invention, as naturally this plant cannot exist.
It is believed that the people in Mexico
developed this cereal from a wild grass known
as ‘Teosinte’ around 7000 years ago.

Maize then got popular and spread in whole of

the South America and some parts of North
America. Even before Columbus discovered
America, maize had already became a major
constituent in the food of the native people.
When he discovered America, maize spread to
the world and got popular everywhere.

Cultivation pattern
Maize is the only crop which has got the
highest weight of production even as
compared to rice and wheat. The planting of
the maize crop is done in the spring season so
that it could get the benefit of the rains in this
season. Rains for this crop, are very important
as maize is very sensitive to drought. This
crop is generally cultivated in a two or three
crop rotation. The cultivation of maize
involves the following steps:-

1. Planting – Planting of  the crop is when

the crop is planted. The planting of
maize is generally done in mid of April
to mid of May.
2. Silking – Silking is the most crucial
stage in the crop cultivation. It means
pollination of the crop.
3. Doughing – When the maize crop
starts to show a thick substance, the
crop is said to be doughed.
4. Denting- During the process of
doughing, the plant spends all its
resources in the formation of those
dough like substance and this causes
the plant to reduce and a ‘dent’ starts to
show, on the end of the substance. This
is called denting.
5. Maturing – When the green foliage is
gone and maize appears from the
opening of the foliage, the crop is said
to be matured.
6. Harvesting – The crop usually gets
matured around the year end and then
it harvested.

 
Maize producing countries
 

 United states
 China
 25 countries in the European Union
 Brazil
  Mexico
 Argentina
 India

These countries produce about 4/5ths of the

world’s total maize production. The production
of maize is constantly increasing. This is
because of the rising demand from the
industries in maize is used as raw material. The
area under cultivation for maize is maximum
in the countries United States, China, Brazil,
Mexico and India.

Production of maize in India

India’s produces around 10-14 million tons of

maize annually. This contributes to about 2%
of the total world production. Maize in India is
generally produced as ‘kharif’ crop, which
means that it is usually produced in the
summers. Most of the corn produced in India
mainly comes from the southern Corn Belt
states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Earlier in 50’s and 60’s, the maize production
was improved through crop management
techniques and increasing the area under
cultivation. Now it is being improved through
improvement in yield levels. The Indian states
in which maize is produced are: -

 Karnataka
 Andhra Pradesh
 Bihar
 Punjab
 Uttar Pradesh
 Madhya Pradesh
 Gujarat
 Himachal Pradesh

Indian maize market

Maize as a crop needs a vast variety of

environments for production. India as big and
an agriculture-oriented country provide all the
basic requirements for it. India produces
around 10 million ton of maize. Karnataka is
the leading producer of maize in India as it
falls under the corn belt of India and produces
around 15% of India’s total produce. In India,
the area on which maize is cultivated is 7
million hectares in 2004. India consumes
almost all the maize that it produces. About
50% of the total Indian produce is consumed
as poultry feed and about 8% is consumed by
the starch industry. Indian maize exports
fluctuates around 5 lakh tons annually. Mostly
the southwestern countries import maize from
India.

  In another words, India can be considered as

maize importing country. Government fixes
the quantity of maize to be imported each year
and the imports are to be done on 15%.

  Market Influencing Factors

 Weather of the area in which it is

produced and natural calamities like
floods, droughts etc
 Changes in the government policies
relating to the minimum support prices
 Cheaper prices of the substitute
products
 Changes in the seasons
 Technological changes and
improvements

 
Major trading centers of maize
 

 Chicago
 Budapest (Hungary)
 South Africa
 Liaoning (China)
 Kenya

  In India, maize is traded at

 Patna (Bihar)
 Chapra (Bihar)
 Begusarai (Bihar)
 Motihari (Bihar)
 Dohad (Gujrat)
 Banglore (Karnataka)
 Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh)
 Udaipur (Rajasthan)
 Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh)