Directorate experts at a maize cultivation field in K Nagar. Telegraph picture

Purnea, Feb. 16: Quantity and quality of maize cultivation could be bettered by the use of latest technology and high quality seeds provided by Directorate of Maize Research (DMR) said senior agriculture scientist Virendra Kumar Yadav today.

Yadav and a DMR Begusarai regional centre team, comprising scientists Pankaj Kumar, Samir Kumar Rai and Ashok Kumar Yadav, arrived at the maize cultivation fields at K Nagar — 10km from the city — today to demonstrate the benefits of using the latest technology in maize cultivation. The technology would help improve productivity and profitability of maize.

Farmers were instructed about the benefits of seed production, quality protein maize production technology, single hybrid production technology, inter-cropping and resource conservation. By growing quality seeds, farmers could book better benefits and could promote maize cultivation around the country.

“If farmers sow the seeds which are made available by DMR — a wing of Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR), by using the techniques that I have given them, they can sell their seed at Rs 125 to Rs 130 a kg from their houses,” Yadav told The Telegraph.

He also said the two essential amino acids Lysine and Tryptphan were found 2.5 times more in the maize produced through his technique than the maize produced through traditional methods.

Yadav said the improved seed were not available in shops. These were provided by the DMR centre at Begusarai to the farmers free of cost. Each farmer was given 8kg per acre. He also said about 400 acre of land was used for maize cultivation in the state for which the DMR centre had provided 32 quintals of seed.

Pankaj said: “No seed except those provided by us should be sown, within a radius of 500m for better productivity. Male and female plants should be planted in rows in a ratio of 1:3 or 1:2. Tassels should be removed from only the female plants when they come out. Farmers should also weed out plants, three to four times, during the season.”

Two non-governmental organisations, Vaishali Area Small Farmers Association in Vaishali and Spark in Samastipur were also functioning in Bihar to help implement the programme.

Farmers in eight districts, Araria, Begusarai, Katihar, Khagaria, Patna, Samastipur and Purnea are benefiting from it.