In Gujarat, the maize crop research was started under All India Co-ordinated Maize improvement Project (ICAR) in 1958 at Dahod.  Later on, it was shifted at Godhra, district Panchmahals in 1960. In 1972, the project was systematically executed under the administrative control of the Gujarat Agricultural University. In view of the local need based specific maize crop research, the multidisciplinary and multilocation approach research was initiated with the implementation of National Agricultural Research Project in 1983.

Gujarat is one of the major maize growing states in India. The Panchmahals, Dahod, Vadodara, Narmada, Kheda, Sabarkantha, Banaskantha are main districts  to grow maize as kharif and winter/rabi crop in Gujarat. Maize is a staple food and feed of tribal belt of the state. In addition, the maize based industries in the state need maize seed in large bulk to manufacture of byproducts such as starch, sorbitol, ethanol, poultry feed, corn oil etc.. The sweet corn, popcorn, quality protein maize and baby corn are presently becoming popular for preparation of table dishes and snacks in cities and towns of the state. So, the demand of maize is gradually increasing. The maize is grown in 4.24 lakh ha in kharif and 1.00 lakh ha in winter/rabi with production 8.20 lakh  tones and yield  2000 kg/ha (2018)