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Informist, Tuesday, Apr. 1, 2025

 

By Pallavi Singhal 

 

NEW DELHI – With a push for more corn-based ethanol production, a critical debate has gained momentum across farm circles and in government corridors - Should India allow genetically modified corn, or maintain its focus on traditional, non-modified varieties? This was primarily the focus of discussions at the Maize and Millet Summit 2025 held last week in New Delhi.

 

At the two-day summit, experts pointed towards India's critical dependence on maize imports to meet the growing demand of the commodity, which is extensively used for ethanol production. In fact, Asia's top corn exporter turned into a net importer for the first time in 2024 to meet the demand for corn-based ethanol.

 

With maize farmers grappling with climate change and dwindling yields, along with an escalating demand for corn, policymakers and agricultural experts seem to be under mounting pressure to weigh the pros and cons of embracing genetically modified corn to increase domestic yields.

 

The government in January last year increased the procurement price of corn-based ethanol as it aimed to incentivise a shift from sugarcane-based and rice-based ethanol for gasoline blending. Now, as India promotes ethanol blending in gasoline to reduce carbon emissions while simultaneously trying to ensure a steady supply of affordable sugar as well as rice in the world's largest market, the country needs to rethink its import position in the world, traders and experts at the seminar said. 

 

The consensus was that India, which raised its maize acreage in the 2024-25 season as farmers shifted to maize from other crops like soybean amid attractive returns, cannot continue choosing fuel over food. "Food or fuel is the question on everyone's mind right now. India may have to choose between pulses-oilseeds and poultry. With maize giving good returns, commodities such as soybean and even wheat have already been affected," Sumit Gupta, director at Waseda Global Pvt. Ltd. said during a panel discussion.

 

The government's decision to produce ethanol from maize did not factor into account the disastrous effect it would have on poultry, starch, and oilseeds sector, Atul Chaturvedi, chairman of Asian Palm Oil Alliance and the executive chairman of Shree Renuka Sugars said speaking at the summit on Thursday. 

 

The panels also discussed India's low maize yields, varying from 2.5 tonnes per hectare to 6 tonnes per hectare on an average - less than half of the global average. The average productivity in India is 3.2 tonnes per hectare against the world average of 5.5 tonnes. The US, the biggest maize producer, has a productivity of over 10 tonnes per hectare.

 

Waseda Global's Gupta pegged India's maize demand growing at least 6% every year, driven by rising demand across poultry and cattle feed sector, starch production as well as ethanol manufacturing for fuel blending. This prompted a general agreement at last week's discussions that India will need to import genetically modified seeds to meet domestic demand. "India needs to seriously work in increasing its yield per hectare if it wants to raise the production," Gupta said. For this, India will "sooner or later" need to import genetically modified seeds, Shree Renuka Sugar's Chaturvedi added. 

 

Abinash Verma, promoter of Eastern India Biofuels Pvt. Ltd., offered another solution – using hybrid seeds for raising productivity. "In Purnia region of Bihar, we have been able to get a productivity of 7-8 tonnes per hectare with some pockets even going up to 11-12 tonnes per hectare with hybrid (seed) varieties," Verma had said at the summit.

 

Even as panellists and speakers expressed the importance of importing genetically modified corn at least for the purposes of ethanol manufacturing, they concluded that the government is unlikely to allow it for at least the next five years. "Allowing genetically modified seeds to come in would be counterproductive to the government's 'atamnirbhar' scheme," Manish Gupta, managing director of Gujarat Ambuja Exports Ltd., had said at last week's event. 

 

However, the government may be more open to allowing the import of genetically modified corn, at a lower import duty if not at zero duty, to bridge the supply deficit owing to rising domestic consumption. Speaking to Informist, a policy maker who was present at the event said that the government is working on a maize policy and "is not against the idea of importing genetically modified corn if it seems fit."

 

It may very well become a win-win situation for the government as both ethanol and poultry sectors remain open to the idea of importing genetically modified corn. India primarily imports corn from Myanmar and Ukraine. 

 

Genetically modified crops remain controversial for their alleged impact on human and animal health, and for their ability to contaminate non-genetically modified crops. In India, Bt cotton is the only genetically-modified crop approved for cultivation.   End

 

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

 

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