Farm Minister calls for steps to boost speciality corn production

Targeted incentives need to be given for the cultivation of speciality corn such as baby corn, popcorn, sweet corn and multigrain flour to meet rising demand, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said.

India needs to work towards doubling its maize production by 2025 as the sector holds immense opportunities with its growing popularity among urban consumers, Singh said at the India Maize Summit organised by the industry body FICCI on Thursday.

“By 2025, India would require 50 million tonnes (mt) of maize for domestic consumption, of which 32 mt would be used by the feed sector; 15 mt by the industrial sector and 2 mt to be used for food and one million tonne for seed and miscellaneous purposes. There would be 10 mt of export potential as well,” Singh said.

Doubling the country’s maize production from the present levels of about 21 million tonne by 2025 is, therefore, a big opportunity for India, he added.

According to the third advance estimate, the total maize production (kharif and rabi) of the country during 2015-16 is likely to be 21.02 mt.

The Minister also stressed on the need for special programmes to promote Quality Protein Maize (QPM) as it provides nutrient security to even remote areas.

QPM contains 80 per cent protein as opposed to about 50 per cent in regular maize.

The private sector should be provided special incentives to provide improved seed to remote areas such as the North-East, he said.

The fact that maize can be grown on all kinds of soils and in various climatic conditions make it a suitable crop for India, pointed out Ashok Dalwai, Additional Secretary, Agriculture Ministry.

Dalwai, however, pointed out that productivity was one of the lowest in India with a yield per hectare of just 2.4 tonnes compared to 6 tonnes in China and 10 tonnes in the US.

Raising yields will be possible through a number of focussed steps including wider use of single cross hybrids and increased use of micro-irrigation.

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