Livestock feed makers expect production of maize, a key ingredient, rising between 5 and 10 per cent this year as farmers are likely to expand the area under the coarse cereal. Demand for maize has been on the rise from producers of livestock feed and ethanol in the recent years.
The total production of maize for all three cropping seasons – kharif, rabi and summer – during 2024-25 was a record high of 42.28 million tonnes, up 12.26 per cent over 37.66 million tonnes in 2023-24.
In the current kharif cropping season, the acreage under maize is up 11 per cent at 23.69 lh till June 27 compared with 21.35 lh last year. Most of the sowing has taken place in Karnataka, a major producer, where timely rains have spurred plantings. The normal area under maize, based on the laslt five year’s average is 78.95 lh.
Logical move
“The area under maize cultivation will increase. It’s quite logical—when the government raises the MSP and maize is already a cash crop with strong demand, farmers are naturally inclined to grow more of it. They know there’s a 100 per cent requirement for the crop and that buyers are readily available,” said Divya Kumar Gulati, Chairman, Compound Livestock Manufacturers Association (CLFMA) of India.
Gulati said the total production of maize for the year 2025-26 (all three cropping seasons) could go up 5-10 per cent. For 2025-26, the Centre has announced a minimum support price of Rs 2,400 per quintal, up 7.8 per cent over Rs 2,225 last year.
Further, Gulati said that CLFMA has commissioned a maize crop survey for the current year through satellite imagery and ground truthing. The crop survey will start in the first week of July. Maize is a major raw material for the poultry sector as it accounts for about 60 per cent of the costs.
Crowd funding
“Maize area has increased this kharif. There will be a larger planting area this yar. How much it is going to go up, it too early to say” said Naveen Pasuparthy, deputy chairman of CLFMA and President Karnataka State Poultry Farmers Breeders Association.
Pasuparthy said the 14 poultry industry associations in the country have come together to crowd fund as a sector a scientific crop survey of the maize crop this year for all the three growing seasons — kharif, rabi and summer (zaid). “The survey will cover about 95 per cent of the area across some 274 districts,” he added.