Why diverting maize for ethanol is affecting poultry farmers

“Because maize got diverted for ethanol, its availability for poultry reduced and rate increased,” Anil Phadke, a poultry farmer from Nashik, said. “Maize prices five years ago used to be Rs 14–15 per kg. Now they are Rs 25 to Rs 28 per kg. This inflation rate is much higher compared to other commodities.”

If the use of maize in ethanol production continues to rise and if the vital feedstock becomes unavailable for poultry, Phadke estimates that the price of chicken will rise from Rs 200 per kg to Rs 400-500. “Eggs that are Rs 10 per piece will become Rs 20 or 25. If India wants to feed its large population, our cultivable land has to increase but it is decreasing,” said Phadke.

But poultry farmers’ profit margins are still the same, Patil said.

“Either maize production must be increased to meet the demands of both the poultry sector and ethanol or for now, you must stop supplying it for ethanol. Food should be a priority,” said Patil.

In December 2025, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution told parliament that “the quantity of maize is sufficient to cater the demand of ethanol production, poultry and other purposes. To maintain feed availability, the poultry feed industry is also adopting other domestically available ingredients such as Rice bran, Broken Rice, Bajra and Wheat offal”.

But Patil said that de-oiled rice bran as mentioned by the Ministry above has also become costlier—from Rs 7-8 per kg in 2019 to Rs 22-23 now.

This year’s deficient monsoon means India has sown less rice, soybean and maize this Kharif season.

Sanjay Nalgirkar of the Maharashtra Poultry Farmers and Breeders Association and a poultry farmer himself is worried about poor rainfall this year and believes it will yield only 30% to 40% of the usual maize harvest. The international body Food and Agriculture Organization had also warned in June how the El Niño could lead to a weak monsoon over India and particularly impact rice and maize.

“If ethanol continues taking maize from the market, maize prices can go up to Rs 30 next year, the highest ever,” said Nalgirkar. “The cost of eggs has increased around 40% because maize and soymeal prices increased. The third input is imported vitamins and minerals and even there, prices have increased. We are facing around 20% losses. Traders can choose to wait to sell (eggs) but we cannot. We have to sell at whatever the price.”

Ranpal Dhanda, president of the Poultry Federation of India and himself a poultry and maize farmer from Panipat, Haryana, agreed that poultry farmers’ cost of production is increasing but corresponding prices are not.

“The moment the price increases even slightly, there is uproar. So, we cannot increase prices. Then what should we do?” asked Dhanda.

He believes production of maize needs to increase per hectare, for which high quality seeds need to be made available for maize farmers.

“Right now, if maize farmers are getting better prices, poultry is suffering. There needs to be balance. India produces only 3 to 4 tonnes of maize per hectare but with high quality seeds, that can go up to 11 tonnes,” said Dhanda.

Even distilleries are afraid of a looming shortage.

“Industry estimates for 2025–26 indicate a potential maize shortfall of 17 million tonnes, prompting calls for duty-free imports and alternative feed options. India has already shifted from being a net exporter of maize to a net importer to manage this gap,” AIDA noted.

India cultivates non-genetically modified maize and allows only up to 0.5 million tonnes of corn imports annually at 15% import duty. Beyond that, maize imports have a 50% import duty.

A corn job

Domestically, despite increasing demand, increasing the area under foodgrain production is also not easy and experts argue that investing in renewable energy to reduce fossil fuel-dependence is a better option.

For example, you need 187 hectares worth of maize-derived ethanol to match the annual travel distance of an EV recharged from one hectare of solar energy—even accounting for losses from electricity transmission, battery charging and grid storage—according to a 2022 report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, as we explained that year.

Ramakumar said the increase in maize demand has reduced the area under other crops. “India has limited land. So where will maize grow? It has to substitute something else,” he said. “Incentives to convert from rice to maize are limited but incentives to convert from oilseeds or pulses to maize are much higher.”

He explained that across the board, cropping patterns have shifted from pulses, oilseeds, etc. to maize, “which creates a larger question at the national level, because India has a target to reduce its dependence on oilseed imports”. He cited the example of soybean, another feedstock for cattle, for which sowing area has gone down in Madhya Pradesh due to maize.

India spends more than $20 billion a year importing edible oil, and that bill is rising, we explained in June 2026. The government launched a mission two years ago to boost domestic oilseed production by nearly 80% by 2031, but experts say the numbers don’t add up without solving deeper problems: India farms 15-20% of the world’s oilseed acreage yet produces only 6-7% of global vegetable oil.

Ramakumar called the entire E20 exercise unplanned.

“Maize supply simply could not catch up with the increasing demand which means that we have a maize shortage now and it is affecting everybody,” he said. “If you had planned for an increase in the demand for ethanol, did you plan for the increase in supply also? What happens to your overall food security concerns including pulses, oilseeds, etc.? Have you done a cost-benefit analysis? No. If the import bill from fossil fuels is falling and the import bill from oilseeds is rising, what is the net gain? Ultimately, distilleries are benefiting more than even maize farmers. They are the winners here.”

(Uday Narayanan and Sanket Dagade, interns with ISignal, contributed to this report)

This report is republished with permission from ISignal, formerly IndiaSpend, a data-driven, public-interest journalism non-profit. It has been lightly edited for style and clarity.