ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses case studies of the maize economy of six developing countries: Ghana, Zimbabwe, Thailand, China, Guatemala, and Brazil. The trend in six countries is toward greater private-sector leadership in seed production and increasing private investments in proprietary maize research. Maize is produced during both major and minor seasons in areas with bimodal rainfall patterns and during the major season in areas with unimodal rainfall patterns. Maize research is conducted by the Crops Research Institute, which is part of the Council for Industrial and Scientific Research under the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology. The maize seed industry in Zimbabwe is in private hands although public organizations have played a central role in the development of improved germplasm and hybrids. Thailand’s agriculture is dominated by rice, maize, cassava, and sugarcane production. Feeding maize to domestic livestock and poultry—and then exporting the higher-value products—has been economically beneficial for Thai agriculture.
