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Maize is considered a staple food for hill communities, whereas wheat and rice are staple foods for Terai people of Nepal. Maize is the second most important cereal crop after rice in Nepal which is used as food, feed, fodder and industrial raw material. It contains 11.1% protein, 3.6% fat, 2.7% fiber, 66.3% carbohydrate and 1.5% minerals (Calcium, phosphorous, Iron) and Vitamins (A, B, E) (Joshi et al., 2017). It is grown under diverse agro-ecologies in the country. Of the total maize area, Terai occupies 17.34%, mid hills 72.85% and high hills 9.81%, with average productivity (improved varieties) of 2.79, 2.51 and 2.11 tons per hectare (t/ha) respectively (NMRP, 2017). Although there were some fluctuations, maize was grown in about 0.89 million hectares of land in 2015/2016, with productivity of 2.5 metric tons per hectare (Mt/ha), and 2.2 million metric tons (Mt) of maize produced. Except for the few years (2009/2010, 2012/2013 and 2014/2015) during which maize production declined compared to the previous year, the production, area and productivity of maize is increasing at compounded annual growth rate of 2.91%, 0.57% and 2.35% respectively in the last 15 years (Figure 1). Despite increasing rice eating culture replacing maize based food, the import of maize has been growing for a few years.

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