Divisi
When to plant Maize in Gabon
C4 annual grass, wind- and cross-pollinated — buy hybrid seed fresh each season and isolate seed crops / sweetcorn from field maize by ~200 m.
| Measure | Rain-fed | With irrigation |
|---|---|---|
| Fit | Favourable | |
| When to plant | 25 Jan 2027 – 7 Sep 2027 opens in 17 weeks | 21 Jan 2026 – 1 Jan 2027 |
| Expected harvest | about 5.8 t/ha | about 8.8 t/ha |
| Harvest | From 25 May 2027 to 25 Jan 2028, depending on the planting date | |
| Ready to harvest | 120–140 days after planting | |
| Work it takes | 82–165 days per hectare, by hand | |
Rain-fed. These dates are worked out from each place's own rainfall, for a field watered by the season — with irrigation a window can open earlier, close later, or come round more than once a year. Check your own field under What grows, or get the Divisi app for a calendar dated to your farm.
If you only get one chance to plant, aim for around 25 Jan 2027. That is the point in the window where the rains are most reliably established.
This season's rainfall outlook for Gabon leans dry, so these dates sit later than the long-run average. Planting on the date you are used to risks germinating into a false start and having to replant.
Planting after 7 Sep 2027 leaves the crop short of season: it runs into the dry months before it has finished filling.
What decides this in Gabon
| Rain and temperature | 96% |
|---|---|
| The soil | 76% |
| The lie of the land | 60% |
For maize in Gabon, the lie of the land is the tightest of the three at 60%. You cannot flatten it, but you can farm it: plant along the contour rather than up and down, ridge or tie ridges to hold water on the slope, and expect shallower rooting than the crop would manage on flat ground.
The 2025/26 season in Gabon
| When the rains are expected | September 2025 to July 2026 |
|---|---|
| Rain in a typical year | About 1,522 mm in a typical farming district |
| Across its districts | From about 1,509 mm in the driest of 48 districts to about 2,756 mm in the wettest |
| This season's rain | Leaning dry — January, February, September, October, November and December look short of rain. Plant at the early end of the window, favour quicker and more drought-tolerant crops, and keep moisture in the soil: mulch, and weed early. |
| This season's heat | Hotter than usual — about +1.0 °C over the growing months. Heat makes the same rain do less, so a dry spell bites sooner: do not plant late, and shade or mulch what you can. |
| What that supports | enough rain for a long crop, or two in a year, warm all year, so nothing but rain ends the season |
| Ground this covers | One kind of ground throughout. |
last updated 18 September 2026 · from all 48 areas within it
What maize needs to grow here
| Soil it likes | well-drained sandy loam, loam or clay loam soil |
|---|---|
| Soil sourness (pH) | Happiest between pH 5.5 and 7.5 |
| Spacing | 75 cm between rows, 25 cm between plants |
| Feed it most with | sulphur, zinc and magnesium |
What it takes to grow maize in Gabon
| Planting material | About 53,000 plants per hectare |
|---|---|
| Nitrogen (N) | About 93 kg per hectare |
| Phosphate (P₂O₅) | About 46 kg per hectare |
| Potash (K₂O) | About 35 kg per hectare |
| In the shops | A basal compound at planting — Compound D, or an NPK blend — covers the phosphate and potash. A nitrogen top dressing — urea or AN — goes on once the crop is established. |
| Hand work | 82–165 days per hectare, by hand |
These are the nutrients a maize crop of that size carries off the field. What you actually apply depends on what your soil already holds — which is what a soil test, or the app's field records, tell you.
What to watch for
Grow Maize with a plan, not a guess
Everything above describes Gabon as a whole — your own soil, slope and rainfall will shift the dates. The Divisi app works them out for your field, and dates each job that follows.
Maize in nearby districts
This calendar moves
Planting windows shift with the forecast. Leave your email and we'll send what changed, and a note when planting time nears — a couple of emails a month at most.
Frequently asked questions
Will maize grow well in Gabon?
Gabon rates as favourable for maize.
When should I plant maize in Gabon?
Typically 25 Jan 2027 to 7 Sep 2027, forecast-adjusted.
Is this exact for my own field?
No — these are readings taken across Gabon, not on your field. Soil, slope and rainfall change from one farm to the next. Check your own location to see your own numbers.
