Maize Cultivation in India

Two growing seasons

• Maize is grown in both the Kharif and Rabi seasons.
• About 83% of the total area is sown in Kharif, during the June–July monsoon.
• Some States, such as Bihar, also grow it as an irrigated Rabi crop.

Top producing States

• Karnataka is the top State, with about 16.45% of national output.
• Madhya Pradesh follows with about 11.37%.

Decades of growth

• Production grew from just 1.73 million tonnes in 1950-51 to a record 55.09 million tonnes in 2025-26.

Where the maize actually goes

• Most maize does not go straight to human food.
• About 47% is poultry feed, the single largest use.
• Only about 13% is eaten as human food or general livestock feed.
• The rest goes to industry and starch, plus a fast-growing share diverted to ethanol.

Hybrid seeds, not GM seeds

• India does not allow commercial cultivation of GM maize.
• Yield gains come from conventional breeding. ICAR has released about 265 maize varieties, including 77 hybrids and around 30 biofortified lines.
• About 94% of US corn acreage was genetically engineered in 2025. India and the US chase the same yield goal through opposite seed technologies.

Why yields still lag

• India’s average yield is roughly 3.4 to 3.8 tonnes per hectare. The US gets about 10.5.
• The gap shows inside India too. Rainfed Kharif maize, 83% of area, yields only about 2.7 tonnes per hectare.
• Irrigated Rabi maize gives about 4.4 tonnes. Irrigation, not just seed quality, is the real lever.

How Karnataka took the top spot

• High-yield varieties, better irrigation and mechanisation lifted Karnataka. It now leads in both Kharif and Rabi.
• Farmers get about 18–20 quintals per acre from maize against 6–7 from jowar on the same rainfed land. The switch is a simple money decision.
• Studies project maize productivity rising about 24.5% by 2035 under a warming climate. Ragi is projected to fall about 12%.

A crop reshaped by fuel policy

• Maize is increasingly linked to biofuel policy, not just food and feed.
• In the 2023-24 ethanol supply year, maize became the largest feedstock, at about 42.74% of ethanol.
• Oil companies pay more for maize ethanol. In 2024-25 they procured it at about ₹71.86 per litre, against ₹65.61 for cane juice, ₹60.73 for B-heavy molasses and ₹57.97 for C-heavy molasses.
• That price gap is why maize overtook sugarcane.
• About 7 million tonnes a year were being diverted to ethanol by 2024-25.

Trap: farmers have not fully gained

• Mandi maize prices stayed below MSP for most months from March 2025 to August 2026.
• Ethanol demand pulls in acreage without a matching rise in what growers earn.
• See Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme in India for the policy story.

A record harvest

• Production hit a record 55.09 million tonnes in 2025-26 (Third Advance Estimate). That is up about 27% from 43.41 million tonnes in 2024-25.
• Better monsoon and MSP hikes drove the rise.
• Kharif 2025-26 sown area rose to about 91.89 lakh hectares, up 10.5%.
• The MSP for maize rose to ₹2,410 per quintal for Kharif Marketing Season 2026-27, up ₹10.

Ethanol demand and the India-US deal

• The Economic Survey 2025-26 flagged the ethanol-driven shift in crops as an early warning for food security.
• On 2 February 2026, an interim India-US trade framework cut US tariffs on Indian goods from 50% to 18%. In return, India opened its market to limited US corn and DDGS imports, for ethanol and feed rather than direct food.
• A pre-existing quota allows up to 0.5 million tonnes of maize imports a year at 15% duty, with a much steeper duty beyond.
• India has separately resisted importing GMO corn, citing food and energy security.
• See India-USA Relations and Trade.

• A question may frame maize as a “food grain”. Check whether it asks about maize’s dominant use. That is feed and industry, not the dinner table.
• Only about 13% goes to human food or general livestock feed. Nearly half goes to poultry feed.