The Maize Mela (July 4-8, 2001) held in Bangalore's Kanteerava Indoor Stadium was all about corn but it was far from being corny! The theme of the five-day event, inaugurated by Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, was corn. There was corn or maize, as it is called in India, just about everywhere. There was flour, cattle feed, syrups, hops, baby corn, starch, puffs, processing machinery, crop savers - all for maize. Someone even popped up with the idea of making garlands with popcorn. That was Ingrid Everall, whose father is credited with bringing popcorn first into India. And the Everalls' stall was doing well as crowds milled around it for buying popcorn. That is how they came to know of the machines that the Everalls manufacture for pocorn making at their Golden Corn Machinery Company.

Maize Mela had 45 stalls, with farmers, traders, businesspersons and interested consumers in large numbers at the venue. The newly launched products were selling well though the stall owners had to keep informing consumers about maize. One such stall was that of the Karnataka State Agro Corn Products Ltd, which was among the busiest.  The reason? Sale of maize-based foods. There was instant maize soup, maize puff, maize biscuits, maize flakes and maize flour. The stall personel were kept busy replenishing stocks that kept disappearing. The technology for the foods comes from the CFTRI, Mysore, said V Hari Krishna Murthy, Deputy Manager of the KSACP. Dr George Alexander, Manager (Veterinary Services) informed indiamarkets of the large potential that maize offered as an input for animal feed. Maize can be used in feeds for cattle, sheeps, goats, rabbits,  even rats and shrimps. With the booming aquaculture business, shrimp feed can have a large market, especially in coastal areas.

On the inaugural day of the Maize Mela, Dr S Subramanya, Agricultural Commissioner, Karnataka said that maize is an important crop in the state. While the production is increasing with record putput, the consumption of the grain has remained low. The result is a glut of maize in the market. And since farmers do not know how to make value-added products, the maize stocks accumulate. The Mela could acquaint farmers and entrepreneurs with technology and avenues to manufacture products that would sell in the market. This could also be a way of reducing stocks.

Another stall with brisk sales was a corn puff manufacturer who offered a “three for two” sales pitch that really worked. For production, he makes use of facilities at the Karnataka State Agro Corn Products Ltd. He said it is important to make people aware of new products such as corn puffs at events like the Maize Mela.

Riddhi Siddhi Gluco Biols Ltd, which is one of the largest manufacturers of starches, liquid glucose, dextrose monohydrate, also had an active stall. The company has manufacturing facilities at Ahmedabad and Belgaum. Maize starch powder, which the company manufactures, is used for commercial and industrial applications. It is used in textiles, adhesives, food animal feed and pharma and paper industries. The company has a R&D unit that helps farmers with seeds, technology for high yields and soil testing.

Balaji, Technical Manager, Colanac group of Companies and A Masethung, Agriculturist, Rasmi Textiles, had put up a stall as their group's activities are all related to maize. The other associated companies are Colanac International Pvt Ltd, Colanac Breweries and Products Pvt Ltd, Colanac Finance Ltd, Colanac Textiles Ltd, Brewers Nest and Rasmi Textiles. It has set up a biotechnology centre as "it is an area of science that has no boundaries. It offers a new, enormously powerful area for scientific research". This centre is in Kovilapatti near Madurai with 500 acres of land where neem, maize, papaya, cashew, tamarind, and amla are being cultivated. The resulting products will be commercialised. The research and development will be carried on simultaneously in India and Singapore. Research and development will also focus on isinglass, chitosan, tartaric acid, glucosamine sulphate, high fructose syrup, grain alcohol. Commercialisation plans are on for isinglass, chitosan and papain enzyme.

Maize grows in abundance in India. Research institutes have worked on it and there are a number of processed foods that can be made from it. Going by the reaction of visitors to the samples at Maize Mela, there seems to be much interest in such new products. With good marketing and a 'hungry' market for fresh and processed foods, maize could very well be the flavour of this season and other seasons as well.