Baby Corn Farming In Kenya

Baby corn is a cereal grain taken from corn (maize) harvested early while the stalks are still small and immature. It typically is eaten whole cob included. Baby corn is common in stir fry dishes.

Varieties

Panar, Baby Asian, Kalahari, Silver Queen, Extra Sweet, Early sunglow and kandy corn.

Ecological requirements

Altitude: 0-2400m above sea level.

Rainfall: 700-1000mm during the growing region

Temperature: 21⁰-27⁰C

Soils: Well drained fertile sandy loams with ph ranging from 5-7.

Land preparation

Plough the land early before planting; remove all weeds and other obstacles from the field. Harrow the field to a medium tilth desirable for corn production.

Apply 12.5 tons of well decomposed organic manure 30 days before planting and incorporate well in the soil.

Propagation and planting

Propagated through seeds, seed rate is 25kh per hectare. Spacing 75 by 25 or 75 by 30

Fertilizer application

125kg/ha DAP during planting, 250kg/ha CAN/urea during topdressing in two splits

Weed management

Keep field weed free, weed shallowly

Irrigation

Start irrigating when the plants are 8-15cm high, repeat at 2-3 intervals in cool areas and weekly intervals in warm areas and where there is light soils

Pest management

Cut worms: Spray using suitable insecticide eg Thurnder

Army worms: Monitor using army worm traps, spray using suitable insecticide eg volium targo

Stalk borer: Apply a pinch of suitable insecticide into whorl, spray using broad spectrum insecticide eg karate

Disease management

Smut practice good field hygiene, use certified seeds

Maize streak virus rogue infected plants, control vectors e.g leaf hoppers and grasshoppers using suitable insecticide e.g Engeo, Thurder etc

Harvesting

The cobs are harvested by hand immediately the silk appears on alternate days for 1-3 weeks. Yield range between 15-25 tons per hectare or 6-8 cobs per plants

Post-harvest handling

Remove all cobs with brown silk, malformed and diseased ones. Pre-cool to remove field heat and store for 2-3 weeks at 0-2⁰C and 95-100% Relative humidity

Uses

The young tender cobs are eaten raw, cooked or processed through canning and freezing. The stalks are used as livestock feed.