Growing Maize in Ghana: A Farmer's Guide

A field that starts with the first real rains

Most maize farmers in Ghana plant on a rainfall, not on a calendar date. The good ones wait for the first heavy rain, then for a second or third wet week that soaks the soil right down. That patience is worth more than any single trick in this guide. A seed that goes into dry soil and sits there does nothing, and a seed that goes in after a bad week of false starts rots or sprouts into a weak plant.

Maize is the crop most Ghanaian smallholders learn first. It fits the two rainy seasons, it feeds people and animals, and it can be sold at the local market or in bulk. It is also demanding. A good crop needs timely planting, steady nutrients, clean fields and a dry spell that does not come at the wrong moment. This guide covers the growing side from the land to the harvest. The question of what the grain costs in the market, and whether it is worth buying for poultry feed, is a different one, and it is covered in our piece on how maize prices decide poultry profit.

Halaal Farms is a day-old chicks hatchery, not a grain grower. We write about maize because many of the farmers who buy chicks from us also grow some of their own feed, and they want to know what a sound maize crop involves before they plant it.

Choosing the season and the soil

Ghana has a major and a minor season for maize. In the forest and transition zones the major season is planted around April, as the rains settle in. In the northern savannah, planting usually waits until May or June, and the crop has one wet season to finish in. The minor season in the south is planted in August or September and harvested before the harmattan. Each season has its own risks. The major season is most exposed to heavy rain and waterlogging on low ground, and the minor season is exposed to a dry finish if the rains stop early.

Soil matters just as much as the date. Maize does best on well-drained loams with enough organic matter to hold water between rains. Heavy clay that floods after a storm, or sandy ground that drains the moisture within a week, both need more management. Look at the field after rain. Note where the water pools and where it runs off, and choose the best ground for the crop. A soil test through your district agricultural office or a college lab tells you the pH and the main nutrients, which saves money on fertiliser you do not need.

Rotation helps too. Maize after a legume such as groundnut or soya usually does better than maize after maize, because the legume leaves some nitrogen behind and breaks up some pests and diseases. A field that has grown maize two years running will often need more fertiliser and more attention to pests. If soya is the legume you want in the rotation, our guide on growing soya beans in Ghana covers the same land from the legume side.

Land preparation: clearing, ploughing and ridging

Clear the field early, while there is still time to let the cleared material dry and rot. Cut back the regrowth and gather the stalks and roots into heaps at the edge of the field, not in the middle where they shade the seedlings. Burning cleared residue is common, but it removes organic matter and can run out of control in the dry season, so check the local rules and your neighbours before you light anything.

Ploughing and harrowing break up the soil so that the seed has a firm but loose bed. Tractor or animal-drawn ploughing both work, and the hire cost depends on the region and the season. Check the current rates with local hire operators and the agricultural extension office, because they change with fuel prices and demand. Plough to a shallow depth on the first pass, then harrow to break the clods. Avoid working the soil when it is wet enough to smear or compact.

Many farmers plant on flat ground, and others make ridges or mounds, especially on heavy or flood-prone soil. Ridges drain water away from the seed and warm up faster, but they take more labour to make. Keep the ridges in line with the slope so that water runs along them rather than cutting straight down. Whatever you choose, make the bed before the first planting rains, not after.

Choosing the variety and the seed

The variety you choose sets the length of the season, the yield ceiling and some of the pest and disease risk. Ghana has public maize varieties bred at the Crops Research Institute and seed from private companies, and the list of recommended varieties changes over time. Ask CRI, MoFA extension or your local seed dealer which varieties are recommended for your zone, and whether they are open-pollinated or hybrid. Obatanpa is one well-known public variety, but it is not the only option, and the best one for your field depends on your rainfall and your soil.

Buy certified seed from a reliable dealer and keep the receipt and the lot number. Seed that has been stored badly loses vigour, and a poor germination rate in the first week costs you the most. Test a small sample before planting by placing a few seeds in a damp cloth for a few days, and count how many sprout. If fewer than most of them germinate, replace the seed before the rains come.

Do not save seed from a hybrid crop and expect the next generation to perform the same. Open-pollinated varieties can be saved if you select the best cobs, dry them well and store them under cover.

Planting: date, spacing and seed rate

Plant when the soil is wet to a depth of several centimetres and the rains look set to continue for a few weeks. A single shower that wets the surface is not enough, because the seed sits in dry soil underneath and can rot or sprout poorly. Planting too early exposes the young crop to a dry spell, and planting too late cuts the time it has to fill the cob before the rains stop.

A common spacing for maize in Ghana is about 75 centimetres between rows and 25 centimetres between plants in the row, with one or two seeds in each hole. At that spacing you have roughly 53,000 plants per hectare, which is a useful number to check against your seed pack and your extension officer's advice. Dense planting pushes the yield up only until the plants start to compete for light and water. Wider spacing gives the crop room, but it leaves more ground for weeds.

Plant two seeds per hole, about three to five centimetres deep, and thin to one healthy plant per hole two to three weeks later. Gaps are common, so keep a bag of spare seed to replant the spaces in the first week or two. Work out your seed need from the area, the spacing and the seeds per hole, then add a small margin for replanting. Buy the seed before the rains, not after the first sign of the field turning green.

Fertiliser: the basal dose and the top dressing

Maize takes a lot of nitrogen, and most Ghanaian soils fall short of what a good crop needs without help. The usual pattern is a basal application of a compound fertiliser, such as NPK, placed in or beside the planting hole at planting, followed by a top dressing of a nitrogen fertiliser a few weeks later. Sulphate of ammonia and urea are common nitrogen sources, and the choice depends on price and availability at your local dealer.

Apply the top dressing at about three to four weeks after planting, when the plants are knee-high and the leaves are dark green, and put it in a band a short distance from the plants rather than on the leaves or in the whorl. Moist soil helps the fertiliser work. Do not apply fertiliser to dry soil in the middle of a dry spell, because it will not dissolve until the rain comes.

The rates should follow your soil test and your extension officer's advice rather than a number copied from a neighbour's field. Trial recommendations for Ghana express the nitrogen target per hectare, and the figure differs between zones, soils and varieties. Use the figure for your own zone, and keep the bag weights and the dates in your field book so that you can judge the response next season.

Keep the fertiliser off the path of the rain. Fertiliser that runs off a sloping field feeds the weeds on the edge and pollutes the water in the dam below. Band it, cover it with soil where the label says so, and keep the sacks in a dry store away from children and animals.

Weeding: the first four weeks decide the yield

Weeds that come up with the maize steal water, light and nutrients, and the damage is worst in the first three to four weeks. A field that is clean for that period can still lose yield to weeds later, but a field that is dirty early almost always loses yield for good. The first weeding is the one that counts most, and it should happen before the weeds set seed and before they shade the young crop.

Hand weeding with a hoe is still the main method for most smallholders, and it works well if you do it on time. Two weedings, one at about two to three weeks after planting and one at about six weeks, cover most of the critical period on a well-prepared field. A pre-emergence or post-emergence herbicide can reduce the labour, but it must be chosen for maize, applied at the right stage and used with protective equipment. Check the product label and your extension officer's advice before you buy, and do not mix herbicides on your own.

Some farmers use cover crops or mulch to slow weeds down. A legume planted between the rows or straw spread on the bare soil keeps the surface cooler and makes weeds harder to establish. These methods take planning, so decide early whether you will use them.

Fall armyworm and the other pests you will meet

Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) has been a serious pest of maize in Ghana since it spread through West Africa in the mid-2010s. The caterpillars feed inside the whorl, the funnel of young leaves at the top of the plant, and they leave ragged holes and a sawdust-like frass. Left alone, they can strip a young crop quickly. Scout the field early in the morning, when the caterpillars are easier to find, and check a sample of plants in each part of the field every few days from the time the crop is knee-high.

The response depends on the level of attack and the advice of your extension officer. Some farmers hand-pick small larvae and crush them, which works on small fields. Others rely on approved products used according to the label, and some use botanical or biological options where they are available. Do not spray without checking the product's registration and label, and do not spray close to harvest or near water. Keep a record of when you scouted, what you found and what you did.

Other pests need watching too. Stalk borers tunnel into the stem, and weevils and other insects attack the cobs and the grain. Good field hygiene, timely planting and rotation with a legume reduce many of these problems before they start. Ask MoFA for current pest alerts for your area, because outbreaks shift from one season to the next.

The silking window and the dry spell that costs the most

Maize has a short window when it is most sensitive to water. The tassel at the top of the plant releases pollen, and the silks on the cob catch it, usually somewhere around two months after planting, depending on the variety. A dry spell in the week or two either side of silking can cut the number of kernels on the cob sharply, and no amount of later rain fully repairs the damage. The field may look green and healthy and still produce small, half-filled cobs.

You cannot control the weather, but you can plan around it. Spread the planting over two or three weeks rather than planting the whole field on one day, so that the silking window does not fall on the same dry week for every plant. Keep the field weed-free so that the crop is not competing for the little water there is. Mulch can help the soil hold moisture during a short dry spell, and a timely top dressing helps the plant use the water it has.

Watch the sky and the soil in the weeks before tasselling. If the rain stops for ten days or more around this time, look at your field closely, and talk to your extension officer about what the crop needs. There is rarely an easy fix, but knowing the risk early lets you plan the next season better.

Harvest: the black layer and the dry cob

The grain reaches full maturity when a black layer forms at the base of each kernel, where it joins the cob. You can see it by pulling a few kernels from the middle of the cob and checking the tip where it attached. At that point the kernel has stopped taking in food, and further drying in the field is only about moisture. Harvesting before the black layer costs you weight. Harvesting well after it risks losses to birds, rodents and weather.

Look at the husks as well. They turn from green to straw-coloured as the crop dries, and the cobs feel hard when you squeeze them. Harvest by hand, breaking the cob off the stalk and stripping the husk back to see how the kernels look. Kernels that are soft and milky are not ready. Kernels that are hard, dented and tightly packed are close to the mark.

Dry the cobs before you shell them. A grain that goes into the store wet will go mouldy or attract weevils within weeks, and aflatoxin risk rises when maize is stored above a safe moisture level. Dry the cobs in the sun on a clean surface, raised off the ground and turned once a day, until the grain rattles and the moisture is low enough for storage. Our piece on buying and storing maize at harvest covers the store and the moisture test in detail.

The cost sums to do before you plant

A maize crop costs money at every stage, and most of the costs are things you can check yourself. Before you plant, write a budget with the items below, using current rates from your local dealers and hire operators. Do not rely on a figure from last season, because seed, fertiliser, herbicide and labour all move, and the price of hiring a tractor can change within a single month.

Set the expected yield from your own records, or from the variety's recommended figure in your zone, and compare the cost per tonne with the price you expect at harvest. If the sums do not work at the lower end of the price range, change the variety, the area or the input level before you plant rather than after.

A growing calendar and checklist for the season

Work backwards from the planting date. Clear and plough two to four weeks ahead. Buy seed and fertiliser before the first rains. Plant on the right soak, weed on time, and top dress when the crop is knee-high. Scout for pests every few days from the start of the crop, and watch the rain carefully in the weeks around silking. The checklist below turns that sequence into jobs you can tick off.

• Test the soil and agree the fertiliser plan with your extension officer before the first rains.
• Buy certified seed, keep the receipt, and germinate a sample before planting.
• Clear, plough and harrow the field, and make ridges or beds where the drainage needs them.
• Plant once the soil is well wet and the rains look set, at about 75 by 25 centimetres.
• Apply the basal dose at planting, and thin to one plant per hole two to three weeks later.
• Weed at two to three weeks and again at about six weeks, keeping the first month clean.
• Top dress with nitrogen about three to four weeks after planting, in a band and in moist soil.
• Scout the whorl every few days for fall armyworm and record what you find.
• Watch the rain in the weeks around tasselling and silking, and plan for the dry spell if it comes.
• Harvest on the black layer, dry the cobs and test the moisture before storage.

Keep a field book with the dates, the variety, the seed rate, the fertiliser bags, the weedings and the yield. After a season the book tells you more about your land than any guide, including this one.

Where the grain goes on a mixed farm

Maize grain has three main destinations on a mixed farm: the household, the market and the animal pen. Stalks and husks go back to the land or to the goats as feed, and the grain itself can be sold or fed to birds. The dry-season side of that stover question is covered in our guide to pasture and grazing management. The poultry side of that equation is covered in our guide to maize in poultry feed, which looks at the role of maize in a ration and at the substitutes farmers use when the grain is expensive. For the ration itself, our poultry feed formulation basics shows how the grain is balanced against protein and minerals.

The crop residues matter too. Stalks chopped into the field add organic matter, and poultry litter spread on the field before planting adds nutrients. Our guide on using poultry manure as a fertiliser explains how to compost and apply it safely to a maize field, and it is a good place to start if you are planning both enterprises together.

If you are starting or expanding a poultry flock alongside your grain, the chicks are the place to begin. Our day-old chicks in Ghana page sets out the breeds we hatch and how they are delivered. You can order through the order section, or WhatsApp us on +233 24 915 1503 with your region and the number of birds you need. For the maize itself, your MoFA extension officer and your local CRI or seed dealer are the people to ask. If you want a partner for a larger mixed project, our partner page explains how we work with farmers who are starting out.

Questions farmers ask