World Food Day 2023 And Maize Production In Nigeria

Nigeria is the largest producer of maize in the Africa, followed by South Africa. In spite of the huge production of maize in Nigeria, Nigeria cannot satisfy local demand of maize. Nigeria does not produce as much sweet corn like maize. Every year, a significant percentage of maize is imported to satisfy local demand in the country. The following are associated with set backs in maize production in Nigeria.

1. Timing in maize farming.

Timing is very important in maize farming in Nigeria especially if you are depending on rain. To record a good yield in your maize farm, your corn plants must get adequate amount of water. Maize loves water, starve corn plants of water and expect to have a poor yield. In the southern part of Nigeria, it is advisable to start the planting of maize from April. Some farmers start in March but rainfall pattern nowadays is erratic. Rain may start in March and seize till May. You need to observe the rainfall pattern well before you start planting.

In the northern part of the country, maize cultivation should start in June. Wrong timing can lead to a dismal performance of your maize plants. To eliminate the issue of timing in maize farming, a farmer can consider irrigation. With irrigation, you can cultivate your maize anytime of the year without fear.

2. Land preparation and planting

To be a successful as a maize farmer, you need to prepare your farmland for planting. Farmland preparation involves clearing the weeds on your farmland, ploughing, harrowing and ridging. Land preparation breaks up the texture of the soil and improves oxygen penetration into the soil, this helps the plants on the soil to grow well.

Land preparation also improves the penetration of water into the soil and the efficacy of fertilisers applied on the soil. Tractors can be used for ploughing, harrowing and ridging. They can also be used for planting of the maize seeds. There are cheap planters in Nigeria that you can buy to facilitate the planting of maize seeds.

3. Plant Population

Plant population is can determine if a maize farmer will make profit or not. To make good profit in maize farming, you need to have at least 50,000 stands of maize plants per hectare; this can be increased to up to 70,000 stands if you plant some hybrid varieties.

Ask most maize farmers in Nigeria the plant population on their farm, they will likely tell you that they do not know. If you investigate yourself, you will see that their plant population is abysmally low, probably 10,000 to 20,000 maize plants per hectare. With his low plant population, they can hardly make any profit.

It is advisable you have an intra-plant spacing of 25 cm and an inter-row spacing of 75 cm when planting maize. This will ensure that your farm will have about 55,000 plants per hectare. If you do 20cm intra-plant spacing, you can increase your maize plant population per hectare to about 66,000.

4. Weeding

Weeds can reduce your yield in maize farming by 90%. You should endeavor to keep your maize farm free of weeds. Ensure that no weed is visible on your maize farm. Weeds share water and nutrients with your plants, they can starve your crops of the important nutrients they need to grow well. Weeds also harbor pests and diseases which can be transferred to your crops.

The first few weeks in maize farming determines about 40-50% of the yield of the crop. You should strive to have a weed free maize farm this period and beyond. If you are a commercial maize farmer, you cannot hand weed your maize farm, its better you use the recommended herbicides for maize crop. There are pre-emergence herbicides and post-emergence herbicides that should be used for maize farming.

5. Fertilizers

I have heard some farmers saying they would only use manure for their maize farms, yes, if you are a commercial maize farmer looking at maximizing the returns from your investment, I will strongly advise that you use both inorganic fertilizers and organic fertilizers.

Maize as a crop is a nutrient hungry crop. Your maize crop needs a lot of nutrients especially nitrogen. One hectare of maize farm will need about 8-15 50kg bags of NPK and Urea fertiliszrs. It is also advisable you mix all your fertilizers with potassium humate in order to maximize the efficiency of the fertilizers.

Also, bury all fertilizers applied to your maize crop; never leave fertilizers on the surface of the soil. Soil improver like manure, rice husks and plant materials can also be used for your maize farm. You can also use microbial innoculants.

6. Pests and Diseases Management

Pests and diseases can mess up your maize farm and make you record huge losses. You should use all the recommended pesticides and disease control techniques when cultivating maize. The most destructive of all maize pests is the army worm. Endeavour to use the pesticides recommended for army worm before infestation. Remember, in farming, prevention is better than cure.

There are nematicides, fungicides, bactericides, rodenticides, insecticides and acaricides that can be used to manage pests and diseases in maize farming.

Improved seed variety Most maize farmers in Nigeria go to the open market to buy dry maize seeds and plants; this often leads to poor yield.

In commemoration of world food day 2023