Editorials

by Rajen Kumar

No Escaping Social Media

Running a magazine concentrating on issues of small and medium enterprises and managing with limited resources is a like living life on the edge. In this rush of meeting deadlines,...

Special Reports

Apr 2012

EMRC, Brussels Associates with SME WORLD as its New Media Partner

EMRC has promoted business partnerships with the developing world and has organised dozens of business forums in key decision-making cities, such as Amsterdam, Rome,...

Interviews

Dr. Sain Dass - Maize Man of India

May 2009

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Maize, the most versatile crop with wider adaptability in varied agro-ecologies has highest genetic yield potential among the food grain crops. India, despite major chunk of maize farming concentrating in marginal environments, maize contributes more than 8% in the national food basket.

Maize is an important staple food in many countries of the world. Its acreage and global production is increasing continuously.

The US has the largest harvested area of corn and contributes one fifth of the world corn harvested area. China, Brazil, Mexico, India and Indonesia are the other countries which contribute significantly to the world harvested area. These six countries have around 60% of the world corn harvested area and the climatic conditions of these countries during the growth period of corn affect the yield and in turn the supply of corn in the world.

India is the fifth largest producer of maize in the world contributing 3% of the global production. In India, maize is grown in all the seasons i.e., kharif, rabi and summer. Of these three seasons, nearly 90% of the production is from kharif season, 7-8% during rabi season and remaining 1-2% during summer season. Since the maize is rain dependent, it is mainly grown during kharif season.

Maize is the third most important cereal in India. Nutritious products developed from QPM (Quality Protein Maize), a new protein-rich variety developed a few years ago, can replace the highly priced industrial foods. These products can also be prepared in villages and thus could be a great source rural entrepreneurship. Therefore QPM-based rural industries have tremendous scope for employment generation and rural prosperity.

Increasing demand from Poultry sector is likely to substantially hike maize consumption to go over 30 million tons by 2020 due to which its production has started growing at faster pace since maize is basic raw material for poultry farming, says Maize Report of The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

According to it, the current maize consumption stands at levels around 16 million tones which according to ASSOCHAM has begin to grow at speed of 6% against its average growth rate of around 5%. The trend will continue as poultry farming is increasingly spreading due to its demand factor as it provides self-reliance to large number of entrepreneurs.

In view of this, the ASSOCHAM report projects that maize consumption would exceed 30 million tons in next 11-12 years.

At present maize contributes Rs. 100 billion to agricultural GDP apart from providing employment to nearly 100 million man-days at the farm and downstream agricultural and industrial sectors.

Dr. Sain Dass, Project Director, Directorate of Maize Research (DMR), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, has devoted all his life to maize research and is responsible for making a marked difference in its productivity levels. His work in the field of Single Cross Hybrid (SCH) breeding programme and adoption of new seed policy is noteworthy.

SME WORLD spoke to Dr. Sain Dass, the man behind the maize revolution in India. Tell us about your role as Project Director at DMR.

First of all let me tell you that I am not the Director here. I am a scientist with abundant love for nature and the fields. I spend at least 2-3 hours everyday in the fields. That is my feed.

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