India's biofuel drive pecks at chicken farmers' profits

As maize-based ethanol production ramps up, so do prices, writes Bhasker Tripathi

- Bhasker Tripathi

In Ghazipur, a small town tucked along the Ganges River in north India, farmer Satyadev Prajapati is counting fewer eggs hatched by his 350 free-range hens as the price of their feed soars by 40%.

India's fast-expanding biofuel programme, meant to cut oil imports and their emissions, has ratcheted up competition for maize, and small poultry producers like Mr Prajapati are bearing the brunt.

"If maize prices go up, but the price of eggs doesn't, it hits us directly," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

The Indian government wants every litre of petrol sold across the country to be a mix of 20% ethanol fuel by the end of 2025. Maize, alongside sugarcane, is a key feedstock in the biofuel.

But the increase in ethanol production is diverting the food crop from traditional uses like livestock feed — impacting millions of small poultry farmers who rely on maize to raise their birds.

CLEANER FUEL

For a country seeking energy security and lower emissions, blending ethanol fuel made with petrol before it reaches consumers saved India about 1.06 trillion rupees (403.3 billion baht) in crude oil import costs between 2014 and 2024, according to Indian government data.