Maize grains could be one of the export items
Md Jafar Ullah | Published: 00:00, Dec 08,2020
— New Age photo
MAIZE, after having been introduced to Bangladesh in the 1970s, crawled ahead gradually to grab lands showing a noticeable trend since 2003. Owing to the augmenting poultry industry, the demand for its grains is on an increase making its cultivation profitable even more than that of rice. Farmers took this profit advantage by using more land at their disposal. The current production trend hints at its future export potential either as feed or food items.
Being a C4 crop, maize has two to three folds yield productivity compared to those C3 crops such as rice and wheat. It can be grown in a diverse climate. Its grains are being used as poultry, livestock, and fish feed creating a ready market for the farmers. The green straw is suitable for preparing storable and palatable silage to cater to the crisis period of livestock feeds.
Because of such production benefits, farmers have adopted this crop widely over the last decade which has already occupied some lands of boro, wheat, pulses, and oilseeds. This crop is also being grown in the Kharif-1 season (summer) on lands that otherwise would have remained fallow. Such occupation is driven by the soaring demand of feed mills for maize grains.
Maize’s expansion was more conspicuous between 1990 and 2000. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Bangladesh reaped 117 thousand tonnes of maize grains from 29 thousand hectares of land in the growing season of 2002–03 which climbed to 3288 thousand tonnes from 401 thousand hectares in 2017–18.
Elaborate research, several open-pollinated varieties and hybrids of maize have been released by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute. Importing seeds of high-yielding exotic hybrids, along with the uninterrupted supply of production inputs, also contributed to the expansion of this crop.
Before 2016–17, wheat was the second-highest grain-producing crop after rice. Its acreage rose gradually showing the highest area of 882 thousand hectares in 1998–99. The crop’s area fell to 331 thousand hectares in 2018–19. Such a decline is mainly attributed to the increased temperature caused by climate change. Further, severe attacks by the blast disease during or after 2014–15 posed the crop to be of lesser interest to farmers.
On the contrary, although maize was initiated much later than wheat in the 1970s, because of a steady ascent of the poultry industry, the crop gained a faster drive. As per 2018–19 BBS data, its area has been 35 percent more than that of the wheat. As such, maize had a gigantic leap leaving wheat production behind.
Not only the yield productivity but also a shorter life span has made this crop unique to be easily fitted in the existing cropping systems. Maize has more disease-resistant capability compared with rice and wheat. Its seeds contain more protein and lower glycemic index and, as such, are superior to rice even for diabetic patients.
In Bangladesh, farmers grow maize mainly in the cropping patterns of T.aman-maize-mungbean, T. aman-maize-aus rice, T.aman-potato-maize, and T.aman-Rabi crops-maize. In the Rabi season which starts from November and continues up to April, maize competes with boro, wheat, and other Rabi crops; while in Kharif-1, with aus and jute. However, summer maize production is constrained by the frequent storms that cause damage and lodging of the plants reducing the yield.
Since the mid-2000s, maize’s growth rate in Kharif-1 (summer) was higher than that of Rabi (winter). The data of 2013 showed that about 18 percent of maize lands in the summer season contributed only 16 percent to its total production which may be attributed to lesser availability of sunlight due to cloud cover. Planting in wider rows of 60cm makes it possible to grow many short-duration crops as intercrops in the same plot.
Maize production is mainly concentrated in the central and northern parts of Bangladesh, still leaving its expansion possibilities in other parts. Especially in the south, a vast amount of land remains fallow after the harvest of T.aman which may be taken under maize cultivation. However, its production in that area may be constrained by the lack of an irrigation facility which must be solved before the mass introduction of its products in that area.
According to BBS data, during the 2002–03 growing season, maize area was around 29 thousand hectares against 707 thousand hectares of wheat. Thereafter, the wheat area gradually dropped down, while that of the maize rose. In 2016–17, the maize area was 390 thousand hectares against that of wheat of 416 thousand hectares. During the 2017–18 growing season, maize’s acreage was 401 thousand hectares against that of wheat (351,000 hectares).
Statistics regarding the acreage and production of maize are as yet unavailable from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics after 2017–18. USDA, indexmunda and Knoeema estimated the area to be 331 and 520 thousand hectares in 2018–19 and 2019–20 respectively, reckoning the respective productions to be of 3500 and 4500 thousand tonnes. The Department of Agricultural Extension projected the acreage and production to be nearing or above 550 thousand hectares producing over 5100 thousand tonnes in 2020–21.
According to the Feed Industries Association of Bangladesh, the annual demand of feed in the country is 6–8 million tonnes needing to import 1–3 tonnes to cater to the burgeoning demand. As its acreage has been expanding rapidly, it may be expected that in near future, Bangladesh will be self-sufficient in this crop, with even a surplus. This paves the way for the development of export-oriented feed industries in Bangladesh.
The currently produced maize grains are used solely as feeds which are from yellow-grained varieties while white grains are widely used for human consumption in many African, Central American, and South American countries. Despite their home production, some of those countries need to import white maize grains from the USA or elsewhere. Bangladesh could take this advantage in the future.
Dr Md Jafar Ullah is a professor of Agronomy, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
https://www.newagebd.net/article/123702/maize-grains-could-be-one-of-the-export-items
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