If wheat and rice were the harbingers of the first green revolution, maize might play a similar role in bringing about the much-needed second green revolution. In fact, indications to this effect are already there. While the productivity of wheat and rice has plateaued, that of maize has grown by a whopping 27 per cent between 2003-04 and 2008-09. The maize plant is inherently a more efficient converter of energy and nutrition into biomass, including grain. This crop, therefore, is capable of delivering higher tonnage per hectare than wheat and rice even with lower inputs.
Interestingly, while the breakthrough in the productivity of wheat and rice was the result chiefly of the introduction of exotic varieties, the maize revolution was being spearheaded by the locally developed single-cross hybrids (first generation seeds obtained by crossbreeding two distinctly different parents). Such hybrids are being promoted aggressively by the Directorate of Maize Research of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to boost maize production as well as farmers’ income.
Maize directorate head Sain Dass is quite upbeat about the prospects of an early maize revolution in India. “The country’s maize output can be doubled in two years through single-cross hybrids,” he maintains. This will turn India into a net exporter of maize, after meeting its fast-growing domestic demand for human food, livestock feed and industrial raw material. At present, less than 25 per cent of the total maize output is consumed as human food, over 60 per cent is used as cattle and poultry feed and the rest goes to industry for the production of starch, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, potable alcohol, packing materials and the like.
Single-cross hybrids — which help produce maize cobs of uniform shape, size, colour and grain quality — have fairly high yield potential and wider adaptability to different agro-climatic conditions. This allows maize to be grown in summer as well as winter seasons. More significantly, they have the capacity to cope with factors related to climate change. In areas where water is becoming scarce due to indiscriminate use, maize can easily replace the traditional crops.
A large number of good, single-cross maize hybrids have been evolved in public and private sectors. The seeds of even public sector hybrids are being produced by the private seed producers under commercial arrangements with the institutions that have developed them. Farmers do not mind paying for hybrid seeds, which have to be bought afresh for every sowing because of their higher productivity and better prices of the produce.
Andhra Pradesh, where the cultivation of single-cross maize hybrids has already caught on, has witnessed a spectacular spurt in maize productivity. The state’s average yield of 5.24 tonnes a hectare is more than double the national average of merely 2.4 tonnes. Maize yields in the Guntur district are the highest, between 7.2 and 8.8 tonnes a hectare. Some progressive farmers are harvesting even up to 10 tonnes per hectare as well. This compares quite favourably with the world’s highest maize productivity of 9.67 tonnes a hectare in the US. However, that level is obtained from a crop which occupies the field for a much longer duration (120 to 240 days) than that in India (80 days and a little beyond). Also, to achieve that level, the land has to be wholly irrigated and the crop well-fed with fertilisers. “The productivity of Indian single-cross hybrids, on a per-day output basis, is higher than that in the US,” claims Sain Dass.
Hilly states, including the north-eastern states, are believed to have good potential to emerge as the maize production hubs because of their favourable agro-climatic conditions. Scientists of the maize directorate have already held workshops and meetings with officials in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and north-eastern states to promote single-cross hybrids there. The directorate has offered to hold maize cultivation demonstrations in these states, besides helping them source seeds for distribution among farmers. Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) are also being involved in this effort.
Since most of the hill states get large number of tourists, the demand for specialty maize types like baby corn and sweet corn is rising fast there. In north-eastern states, most people being meat-eaters, the demand for maize as livestock feed is growing. An increased maize cultivation in such states will help cater to such needs. Besides, the maize produced there can be exported to other states and can even be shipped abroad as grain after value-addition through processing.
