Based on the fact that the gap of future demand and production ability of maize is increasingly expanding,this paper analyzes the changes of planting structure of main crops in traditional grain and cotton producing areas of middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River.The result shows that rice production maintains the dominant role in this region,while concentration of wheat is obvious increasing except Anhui province and deceasing in the other three provinces.Maize production in Hubei,Anhui and Hunan provinces all increases and the cotton planting areas in some areas are steadily reducing in recent years.Because it is difficult to further expand the maize planting area in dominant maize production regions,this paper proposes both the potential of increasing maize production in traditional grain and cotton planting areas of the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River and the future prospect of maize growth in this area in the future.