Site-Specific Nutrient Management for Maize in Southeast Asia
Maize is the second most important cereal crop after rice in many Southeast Asian countries. Though domestic production increased significantly during the past 10 years, the growing demand especially from the rapidly growing feed grain sector cannot be met. The currently recorded average maize yields in comparison to climatic-genetic yield potential indicate that there is a large scope for further increasing the maize production by closing this yield gap.
In 2004/05, the Southeast Asia Program of IPNI started a regional initiative with 120 on-farm experiments in collaboration with key research institutes in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam to develop site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) strategies and principles for maize in Southeast Asia. The overall goal of this regional initiative is to improve the productivity and profitability of maize in major agro-ecological zones of Southeast Asia through site-specific, integrated nutrient and crop management.
After two years of on-farm development and evaluation with promising results particularly in areas with sufficient rainfall or access to irrigation, site-specific nutrient recommendations for maize were evaluated in partnership with more than 500 farmers as part of a campaign for wider-scale delivery of SSNM at project sites in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
