Maize is grown on a very limited scale in Surinam. It is thought, however, that this crop may play an important part, in the governmental schemes for the spreading of agriculture and the diversification of agricultural production. A pre-requisite for the promotion of maize growing is the availability of varieties with high yielding capacity and other desirable agronomic traits. After considering the different possibilities of variety improvement, viz. selection in local land varieties, importation or local production of hybrids, development of synthetic varieties, an outline is given of breeding work at the Centre of Agricultural Research in Surinam (CELOS). This includes a survey of breeding objectives, selection criteria, the available breeding stock, the breeding methods applied and the results obtained. To conclude, some reflections are given with respect to the continuation of the breeding work.