Farmers' practices of maize production and consumption in Azad Jammu andKashmir [Pakistan]

Maize remained the single largest cereal crop in Azad Jammu and Kashmir(AJK) for many decades. It was the staple food among Kashmiries before theavailability of substitutes like wheat and rice. Maize is still one of the majorstaple foods and also an important source of fodder for animals. In order toexplore farmers' practices in maize cultivation and consumption the study wasconducted covering major maize growing districts of AJK. A three stage stratifiedrandom sampling technique was used to draw sample of 175 respondents anddescriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. It was observed that majority(59 percent) of the farmers was growing traditional varieties. On an average thefarmers were using seed at the rate of 3.41 kg/canal. The use of chemicalfertilizer was very low in quantity terms whereas none of the farmers wasapplying pesticides. Average yield of 401 kg per acre was observed. Lodgingemerged as the main impediment in achieving higher yield. About eighty twopercent of the maize production was used for home consumption; six percentreserved for seed and just ten percent of the production was sold to fellowfarmers or in the market.