Maize is the major staple crop in Lesotho as evidenced by production and consumption levels. Speculation showed that maize production and area planted is declining dramatically and no appropriate analytical tools have been employed to verify this. The objectives of this study were; (1) to determine the trend of maize production, area planted and yield using time-series data (2) to determine distribution of maize by production and area among ecological zones. Time series data from 1961 to 2013 on maize production, area and yield were collected from FAOSTAT (2015). Data on ecological zones were obtained from Bureau of Statistics in Lesotho (2014). Genstat software was employed for trend analysis using time series function and ANOVA was to establish differences in maize production among ecological zones of Lesotho. The results revealed that trendline for maize production had declined from 107,000 in 1961 to 94,000 tons in 2013. Production and area curves appeared cyclical. Trendline for area planted maize for 54 years was constant from 1961 to 2013. Yield trendline was constant at 860 kg ha-1. Maize production in the lowland was the highest, followed by Foothills, Mountain and Orange river zone. There is a potential for Lesotho to increase maize production by mainly increasing yield.
Keywords: Ecological Zone, Lesotho, Maize Production, Trend Analysis
