The demand for maize as food and feed in Indonesia has been steadily increasing. Total national maize production has grown at 4.07 per cent per annum in the last three decades, thanks mainly to the adoption of improved production technologies, particularly hybrid seed. This high production, however, still fails to meet domestic demand and has caused a rapid increase in the net import of maize. This study presents the maize production systems in four major maize-producing provinces in Indonesia: Lampung, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi.

This paper discusses the recent changes in cultivation of maize in Indonesia's South Sulawesi province. The authors present data to show the increases in area cultivated and in productivity of maize production in the region. Furthermore, they discuss how the pattern of maize varieties used in this province has changed in the last 15 years, namely from a wide use of local/white varieties (up to 40 per cent use in 1995), towards an increased use of open-pollinated superior varieties and hybrid maize varieties in the late 2000s.

Maize is an important commodity in Nusa Tenggara Barat province as it has a strategic role in meeting the food needs of the people and the demand of feed industries in the region. However, raising productivity to meet the growing demand for maize requires the use of hybrids with high yield potential. This paper examines the potential yield of hybrids of harapan grown in dryland agro-ecosystems. Research was carried out in Perigi village—the centre of dryland maize production—in Suela subdistrict of Lombok Timur during the 2005/2006 rainy season.

This paper explores maize productivity and the yield gap in maize production in five provinces of Sulawesi. The research is based on secondary data collected for the period of 2001 to 2007 on harvested area, production, seed distribution and productivity. The findings revealed that average maize production and productivity varied significantly across the five provinces, from 64,664 tons in Central Sulawesi to 698,198 tons in South Sulawesi and from 2.21 t/ha in Southeast Sulawesi to 3.39 t/ha in Gorontalo. The paper documents the main constraints to production, including biophysical (e.g.

Cropping intensity of rice in lowlands in Indonesia is decreasing, presenting an opportunity to increase cropping intensity by planting maize. In this paper, Fadhly et al. suggest that in order to increase maize production, which does not meet the current demand for feed in Indonesia, maize cropping systems could be shifted to lowlands by promoting increased cropping intensity using rice-rice-maize, rice-maize-maize or rice-maize-fallow cropping patterns.

The paper examines the adoption of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) by maize farmers in North Sumatra and its impact on production and farmers' income. The SSNM introduced to farmers was recommended by a study conducted in the region in 2004-2007: 160 kg ha-1 N, 72 kg ha-1 P2O5 and 90 kg ha-1 K2O. The study also disseminated a new high-yielding variety of maize together with recommendations for planting density and the number of seeds per hole. Research was carried out in five sites in Tigabinanga sub-district—a dryland farming region located 600-700m above mean sea level.