Maize
The ‘queen of cereals’, a versatile cash crop with food, feed and industrial markets.
About Maize
Maize adapts to a wide range of climates and is grown for grain, fodder, sweet corn, baby corn and popcorn. It ranks third among Asia’s food cash crops after wheat and rice, and it is a raw material for food, starch, pharmaceutical and paper industries.
A short cycle and several sowing windows a year make maize a flexible crop, including as an intercrop in young plantations. Plantations International manages maize for consistent stands, clean fields and timely harvest.
Ideal growing conditions
The site, soil and climate parameters our agronomists work to when developing a maize plantation.
Tolerates up to 35 °C
Frost damages the crop
Avoid waterlogging at all stages
Volunteer plants removed
Plus Azospirillum
Zinc and magnesium most often lacking
What maize is used for
Grain
Staple food, flour and meal.
Fodder & silage
Livestock feed from grain and stalks.
Starch & sweeteners
Corn starch and syrups.
Sweet & baby corn
Fresh and canned vegetable markets.
Ethanol
Fuel ethanol feedstock.
Industry
Pharmaceuticals and paper.
Why maize pays
Maize can be sold at local markets or to nearby processing mills, and the crop returns cash in about four months with modest investment. Strong demand from feed mills keeps prices supported.
Because it is quick and adaptable, maize also works as an income-earning intercrop in young bamboo and tree plantations.
From nursery to harvest
- 1Pre-sowing
Field preparation
5–7 ploughings, manure and ridges 45–50 cm apart.
- 2Day 0
Sowing
Treated seed sown 2 per hill; irrigated immediately.
- 3Day 20
First top-dress
Urea applied as plants establish.
- 4Days 21–45
Weeding & protection
Hand weeding and disease sprays as needed.
- 5~Month 4
Harvest
Cobs picked when the husk turns from green to white.
How we manage maize
Fertiliser
Basal superphosphate, urea and potash, with top-dressings at 20 and 45 days.
Irrigation
Light for the first 3–4 weeks, then about weekly.
Weed control
Two to three hand weedings or pre-emergence herbicide.
Protection
Control of downy mildew, leaf spot, shoot fly and stem borer.
Maize in the field
Maize: common questions
How long does maize take to grow?
About four months from sowing to harvest.
When is maize sown?
June–July, September–October and January–February, with seed crops sown in November–December.
How do you know maize is ready?
When the outer husk of the cob turns from green to white.
What is the seed rate for maize?
About 11–12 kg per hectare, treated against downy mildew before sowing.
Related crops
Develop a maize plantation with us
Request a free initial consultation with our plantation development and management team.