Maize farming

About the business

The great advantage of maize is one a vegetable grower never has: the buyer is already fixed. Poultry, fish and cattle feed mills take every kilo, because maize is roughly 60 percent of a feed formulation. Nothing has to be thrown away the way brinjal or tomato does when the market turns. BSS reported the Lalmonirhat arithmetic on 10 May 2026: about Tk 12,000-14,000 of cost on one bigha, 30 to 36 maunds in a good harvest, and Tk 16,000-18,000 left after costs. There are two prices - Tk 750-800 a maund for wet maize straight off the field and Tk 1,040-1,060 dried - and that gap is the whole game. A farmer with a drying yard and enough cash to wait gets about three hundred taka more a maund; one who has to sell on threshing day does not. Jamilur Rahman, a wholesaler at Chilmari in Kurigram, was buying at Tk 27-28 a kg from farmers in 2025 and selling to feed mills at Tk 29 - the middleman's own margin is only a taka or two, but he can pay cash. The risk is entirely in the price. Feed mills also buy imported maize, so when the world price falls the local one follows; in 2025 northern farmers were losing money as costs rose and prices fell. Maize does not perish, so dried properly it can be held until the price lifts, and in this business the biggest decision about profit and loss is when to sell.

Unit economics

What you need to start

• An irrigation pump or arrangement, a thresher or sheller (usually hired), tarpaulin or a drying floor, and sacks.Equipment
• Hybrid maize seed, urea, TSP and MOP, pesticide and irrigation. Lalmonirhat farmers put all of it together at Tk 12,000-14,000 a bigha.Starting stock
• Trade licence from the union parishad or municipality: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, non-judicial stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type. Not needed to sell your own crop, needed if you buy and sell or run a depot.Licence
• Judging the drying. Under-dried maize gets rejected or discounted by the mill; leave it too long and the weight drops.Skill
• An authorised seed and fertiliser dealer, a pump owner, a thresher owner, and the feed mill's buying agent or a maize wholesaler.Supplier
• Cultivable land - one bigha (33 decimals) is enough to start, and the sandy soil of a char will do - plus open space to dry the maize and a dry room to hold it.Workspace

How the work is done

1. 1Pick the land. Maize is a rabi crop, sown in November-December and harvested in April-May. It does well on the sandy soil of the chars, so it grows where paddy will not.
2. 2Go to the upazila agriculture office. The Department of Agricultural Extension advises on seed, fertiliser and technique and runs incentive schemes, and they know which variety yields here.
3. 3Do the per-bigha sum first. Lalmonirhat farmers put it at Tk 12,000-14,000 a bigha. If the land is rented, add the rent on top of that.
4. 4Buy seed from a government or authorised dealer and keep the receipt. Hybrid maize seed is expensive, so a fake batch wipes out a whole season's spending.
5. 5Get irrigation and fertiliser timing right. Whether the field gives 30 maunds or 36 rests on those two.
6. 6Decide before threshing whether you sell wet or dry. Wet off the field is Tk 750-800 a maund and dried is Tk 1,040-1,060 - a gap of about three hundred taka a maund.
7. 7Arrange a drying space - a yard, a concrete floor or a school ground. Line up people who can lift the crop when rain comes, because wet maize goes mouldy and feed mills will not take it.
8. 8Get in touch with the local feed mill or its buying agent. Mills prefer local maize over imports, so once they know you they come looking in season.
9. 9Know both the wholesaler's rate and the mill's before selling. In 2025 the Chilmari wholesaler bought at Tk 27-28 a kg and sold to the mill at Tk 29; knowing the gap makes the bargaining easier.
10. 10Do not sell it all at once. Maize does not perish, and dried well and kept free of insects it holds for months, so this crop gives you the option of waiting out a low price.

Sources

• সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ

  Collected: 16 Sept 2026

  Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ

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