Maize Grain
Maize is is one of the major staple foods in Uganda, a cereal grain not only eaten but also used to make corn ethanol, animal feed, corn starch and corn syrup among others.
It is easy to bring up the maize crop. All you would probably need is simple medium or moderately fertile soils, seeds to sow, a hoe and some manual labour. It can be produced in most parts of Uganda except in the most arid parts of Karamoja.
Maize production has improved in Uganda with the adoption of improved technologies by farmers. These technologies include improved seeds like hybrid and open pollinated varieties, timely planting, proper spacing and timely weeding and harvesting. Maize in Uganda is sold mainly for food in schools, relief by World Food Programme (WFP) or export to neighboring countries such as Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi.
Maize is very nutritious as a starchy food. It also has an appreciable level of protein especially Quality Protein Maize (QPM) which has higher levels of essential amino acids.
Whole grain of l00gm contain l0gm of protein (poor in trytophan and rich in leucine) and 4gm fat, and provitles 360 calories; the germ (12% by weight of the whole grain) contains 22% of the total protein and 80% of the oil (Burgess 1962). Common varieties of Maize seed currently available in East Africa include; longe 1, longe 2H, longe 4, longe 5H, longe 2H.
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