SWABI: Millers have said that with the start of maize crop harvest, there won’t be any pressure on them as a good majority of people in the backward district rely on cheap maize flour, which is prepared by grain crushing machines.

Iftikhar Ahmad Khan, vice-president of Swabi Flour Mills Association, told Dawn that maize production helped meet food requirements in the province. He said when the maize was harvested people approached the grain crushing machine owners.

People said poor families depended on maize flour because it was cheap and abundantly available in the local market. “Maize flour is food for the poor sections of society,” Wahid Zaman of Pirtab village said. Mohabat Khan of Saleem Khan Village said: “As I support a large family comprising nine members, I could not afford wheat flour and prefer the cheap maize flour.

However, some people use maize flour for change in food only in winter, said Zahid Ali Shah, a grain trader. “The change in food is only adopted by the rich,” he added.

The maize production has always been a big relief for the local people, especially when there is wheat shortage.

Doctors in district headquarters hospital said most people in Swabi ate maize bread in breakfast, adding it was a means to counter diabetes.

The farmers said economic experts said maize was the fourth largest crop after wheat, cotton and rice, and about 3.5 million metric tonnes of maize was produced in Pakistan.

However, they said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the largest maize grain producer in the country. Maize has a variety of uses and its grain is a rich source of starch, vitamins, proteins and minerals, they said.

Maize flour has a very mild flavour, they said. It is used for preparing bread and as a thickening agent in foods such as custards and jellies, they said, adding that when the maize grains were heated they burst forming fluffy pieces of popcorns that are eaten as snacks.

In addition, the starch extracted from maize grain is used in making confectioneries and noodles. Corn syrup from maize contains fructose and acts as a sweetener and retains moisture when added to certain foods.After harvesting, corncobs are placed on rooftops of houses or in an open ground for drying. Then the grain is readied for threshing.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2016