A DETAIL EVIEW ON STATUS AND PROSPECT OF MAIZE PRODUCTION IN NEPAL

Abstract

Maize ranks second after rice in terms of both production and area coverage in Nepal. Maize being the principal staple food for majority of people and source of animal feed, cultivated from March to May depending upon distribution of rainfall. Although maize area and production has shown a steady increase in recent years, its productivity has been low (2.67t/ha). Despite the many efforts made to increase the maize productivity in the country, the results are not much encouraging. This paper was prepared after intensive review of all the information obtained from all available resources to analyze the production of maize and reason for decrease in productivity of maize. The research work conducted in several periods has shown numerous reason such as insect pest, disease, weeds, biotic stress, lack of labour, unavailability of improved seed, poor extension and research Programme and frequent occurrence of drought and many more. Therefore, in order to streamline the future direction of maize production in Nepal, an attempt has been made in this paper to highlight the present status and future prospect with key pathways for increasing the productivity of maize.