Abstract
Maize is one of the most harvested cereals on the planet. In Brazil, it is the country’s second largest grain production after soybean, with a large portion of production destined for animal feed. During the 2019/2020 harvest, 35% of total maize production was exported, 9.5% was destined for industrial processing and only 1.1% for human consumption. Specialty maize are those grains that are not destined for the dry grain commodities market, but have various other uses and are destined exclusively for human consumption. Specialty maize are also considered as an alternative profit source for farmers. From a plant breeding standpoint, maize is greatest example of success when it comes to the exploitation of heterosis and therefore most of the investment in genetic breeding done by private companies is in the development of simple GMO single-cross hybrids. In today’s market, there are rarely any specialty maize cultivars available, creating a niche for public funded research and development centers to exploit with their conventional type cultivars. This article discusses the relevance of the specialty maize market niches and the role of the Maize Genetic Breeding Program of Instituto Agronomico (IAC) in the development of innovations in São Paulo through the launch of conventional cultivars aimed at small and medium producers and niches of specialty maize.
Highlights
The first genetic breeding program for hybrid maize in Brazil began in 1932 at the Instituto Agronomico em Campinas (IAC) in the state of São Paulo by Krug and other collaborators
In view of the later, this article discusses the importance of the specialty maize market and the role of maize breeding programs by the IAC in innovations in the state of São Paulo, Brazil through the launch of new maize hybrids destined for small and mid-scale farmers and the market niches of White maize, popcorn and organic/nonGMO maize
From an economic view point, its methodology includes a bibliographical review of the available information on specialty maize for the Brazilian market, utilizing secondary sources derived from the IBGE Agricultural Census, data bases from important sectors of maize’s supply chain and the compilation of information from various reports
Summary
Due to the dominion of multinational corporations in the seed manufacturing industry, many public institution like the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA), the Universidade Estatual de Maringá (UEM), the Instituto Agronomico do Paraná (IAPAR), the Instituto Agronomico de Campinas (IAC) in the state of São Paulo (Sawazaki and Paterniani, 2004) and the Coordenadoria de Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentável (CDRS), previously named CATI, diversified their genetic breeding programs and focused on meeting specific demands and niche markets. Specialty maize are seen as alternative income source for growers, because, in general, they hold greater commercial value than commodity grains With passing time, these maize have seen a gain in their market demand, with some cultivars, such as common green maize being consumed throughout the entire national territory on an annual basis.
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