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The Maize Craze - Between Profit and Hunger

April 9, 2015

Maize is the world’s most widely grown cereal. Huge profits are made from the crop. Why at the same time, millions of people can no longer afford their staple food and are going hungry?

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Image: DW

Jemima doesn’t know how she’s going to feed her seven children. Maize, the staple food in southern Kenya, has become just too expensive. But the cultivation of maize is spreading rapidly around the world, so how is that possible? Maize is the industrial crop of the 21st century, taking up more land than any other one. It’s been widely researched and marketed by the big conglomerates.

07.04.2015 DW Dokumentation und Reportage Mais-Wahn
Jemima has to bring up her seven children alone and can no longer afford their staple food, maize.


The Explosion of the Maize Business

But the huge demand for maize is taking its toll: we turn it into biogas, use it to generate electricity and turn it into ethanol, as well as feeding it to billions of chickens and pigs. The price of maize has rocketed, closely shadowing the price of oil, the demand for meat and the interests of agricultural companies. And the market, which is supposed to feed hundreds of millions around the world, has gone haywire, making some people rich whilst letting others starve. This film, which tells the stories of both victims and movers and shakers, provides an abject lesson in how the global economy really works.

07.04.2015 DW Dokumentation und Reportage Mais-Wahn
Maize is produced industrially on a large scale in the USA. However, now only every sixth kernel lands on a dinner plate.


Broadcasting Hours:

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THU 09.04.2015 – 22:15 UTC
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FRI 10.04.2015 – 04:15 UTC
FRI 10.04.2015 – 17:15 UTC
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FRI 10.04.2015 – 04:15 UTC

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FRI 10.04.2015 – 06:15 UTC

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