'Area under maize crop increasing'.

Area under cultivation, production and yield of maize in India have been increasing for the last five decades and the country has reached near self-sufficiency in its production. This was stated by JS Sidhu, incharge of the Agricultural Market Intelligence Centre (AMIC) of the department of economics and sociology, PAU, during a discussion about maize prices.

"The Economic Times of maize, mainly grown during kharif season largely depends upon monsoon," he said.

During 2008-09, the crop was grown on 8.17 million hectares (m ha) in India with the total production of 19.73 million metric tonne. However, during 2009-10 the production was estimated to decline by about 2.43 million MT due to insufficient monsoon.

Maize is grown in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, which contributed 21, 15.35, 9.27, 8.68, 7.9, 6.07 and 5.8% respectively of the total Indian production during 2008-09.

Sidhu, while discussing the maize scenario in Punjab, said the area under maize in the state had declined from 1.65 lakh hectare in 2000-01 to 1.32 lakh hectare in 2009-10. The increase in yield from 27.93 to 34.16 q/ha during the same period has been able to arrest the decline in total production in the state from 4.61 lakh MT in 2000-01 to 4.51 lakh MT in 2009-10. The main maize growing districts lie along the Shivalik foothills in the north-eastern part (Hoshiarpur, Ropar, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, and Gurdaspur) of Punjab. Jalandhar also contributes significantly toward the total area and production of maize.

Sowing of the crop starts from the end of May, while it is harvested in September-October.

"However, in the last few years, the trend of growing the crop in spring has also been picking up, particularly in potato belt of the state. Area under maize in the state, during the current season, is expected to increase to about 150 lakh hectares and most of this was to be sown under hybrid varieties," said Dr Sidhu.

Last year, farmers received favourable maize price for their harvest and are keen to know the price trend in the coming season. AMIC analysed the prices of maize that prevailed during past years in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Hoshiarpur markets and national and international prospects of crop.

It was observed that market prices of maize in Punjab started rising after October when the peak was over and remained high up to April, after which prices started declining due to arrival of Rabi maize crop in southern states. During 2009-10, maize prices in the state remained well above the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 840 per quintal. The current prices of maize are hovering around Rs 900 to Rs 950 per quintal in different markets of the state.

Overall, the price of the maize is affected by the supply and demand structure, the MSP announced by the government and the government import-export policy.

As the monsoon has been predicted to be normal during current year, total production of maize in the country is expected to increase significantly as compared to last year, which had a drought.

Based on international and national scenario of maize, the prices of maize are expected to remain stable during the coming season.

After analysing the market price data as well as current and past market sentiments, experts concluded that maize prices during current year were expected to be in the range of Rs 850 to 950 per quintal in September-October and were likely to increase by Rs 50 to 100 per quintal afterwards.

However, these projections are subject to the government policies as well as to the expected normal monsoon rains during the year, which significantly affect the production of maize in large parts of country. Sidhu stated that bold grains were fetching better price and suggested that farmers should thus sow bold-seeded varieties.


Source :- timesofindia.indiatimes.com