Technical Factsheet: Growing Maize (Zea mays)

Growing maize in Cameroon, in Africa, and around the world is in high demand among farmers; that's why here is a technical agricultural factsheet to help you succeed at growing maize.

I- Sowing maize

We know in advance when the seeds will be sown; the key task is to make sure the plot is ready to receive this sowing about a week beforehand. To achieve this, several operations need to be carried out:

• Choosing the site
• Clearing the land
• Making ridges 25 cm high, 1 m wide, and 10 m long, in any season.
• Keeping a spacing of 80cm between rows, and 50cm between planting stations on the same row, arranged as two rows per ridge, thinned to two plants per station.
• Adding 250 g of chicken droppings or well-decomposed manure and 2 teaspoons of potassium sulfate to each planting hole or station, and mixing well with the soil.
• After sowing, emergence occurs within 1 week.

With a spacing of 80 cm x 50 cm, an average density of 50,000 plants per hectare is achieved in a pure stand. ALSO SEE: Technical factsheet for successfully growing tomatoes

II- Managing and maintaining maize

These operations consist of watering, weeding and hoeing, applying fertilizers, and protecting the crop against diseases and pests.

a) Watering:

For off-season growing, set up an irrigation schedule.

b) Weeding and hoeing:

Maize copes very poorly with weed competition. That's why the field must be weeded and hoed frequently. These two operations are essential for achieving good yields.

c) Fertilization:

As the plants grow, their nutrient needs increase. Since these nutrients must be available at specific times, split applications are strongly recommended to help the plants survive the vegetative and fruiting stages.

d) Plant protection treatment:

III- Harvesting and storing maize

The first ears are harvested fresh for consumption about 75 days after emergence, between 3 and 3.5 months after emergence - in short, once physiological maturity is reached - and this harvest can last a few days. The yield is close to 10 tonnes per hectare.

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