India's maize cultivation has surged by 9 lakh hectares in the 2025-26 kharif season, driven by the ethanol push.
The government's E20 ethanol-blending program has increased maize demand, making it a key feedstock.
However, this shift raises concerns about food security and the impact on other crops like oilseeds and pulses, crucial for nutritional security.
The area under maize cultivation in India has seen a sharp increase of around 9 lakh hectares (lha) in the ongoing kharif season, driven by the push for ethanol.
Maize has been sown across 91.89 lha so far in the 2025-26 kharif season, according to data from the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. This is up from 83.15 lha in the same period last year and a 10.5 per cent year-on-year rise. Compared to the normal sowing (five-year average) for this period, the increase is even steeper at 16.3 per cent.
The surge is largely attributed to better market prices and the growing demand of maize from the government’s E20 ethanol-blending programme, which aims to blend 20 per cent ethanol with petrol by 2025-26.
Distilleries in India currently depend on first-generation (1G) sources (food crops and their byproducts), with rice, sugarcane and maize being the three main crops used as feedstocks. In recent years, maize has emerged as one of the main feedstocks of ethanol production. During the ethanol supply year (ESY) 2023-24, maize accounted for 42.74 per cent of total ethanol production, surpassing sugarcane and rice.
While the ethanol programme has boosted maize prices and incentivised farmers, it has also raised concerns about energy security coming in conflict with food, animal feed, and nutrition security.
Apart from the poultry and cattle feed industries, which consume 60-70 per cent of India’s maize, facing tighter supplies, another concerning trend of maize expansion is the diversion of agricultural area from millets and oilseeds.
There has been a notable shift from groundnut, sunflower, soybean, jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet), and pulses like tur (pigeon pea). Data showed that area under oilseeds has come down by almost 7 lha while tur area has decreased by over 2 lha.
The reduction in area under oilseeds was also concerning for India’s nutritional security and for India’s oilseeds mission, under which the government aims to reduce India’s import dependence and achieve domestic self-sufficiency.
Sugarcane, another important ethanol feedstock, has seen an increase of 1.64 lha. Maize and sugarcane, driven by the ethanol-blending programme, could create competition for resources and dissuade farmers from growing other important crops. Soybean, for instance, is important not only for the country’s oilseeds mission but is also a rich source of protein.
In Madhya Pradesh, farmers told Down To Earth that in the last few years, their experience with soybean has been disappointing, with yields tapering off and prices remaining much below the minimum support price (MSP). On the other hand, the ethanol programme has given a boost to maize and sugarcane prices.
Meanwhile, the total sown area during 2025-26 kharif reached 995.63 lha, an increase of 38.48 lha compared to 957.15 lha during the same period last year. Among all crops, rice has seen the highest expansion, with 364.8 lha as total area under it till August 11. This is an increase of 39.45 lha compared to 2024-25 season.