A cob of corn roasted by the roadside on dying embers brought to life with the vigorous flicking of a fan is an allure few can resist. A cup of steamed sweet corn is part of “mall-nutrition.” Without a pack of outrageously priced popcorn, movie-watching loses some of its charm. Cornflakes for breakfast, nachos and tortillas (pronounced tor-tee- yas) as anytime nibbles, and makke ki roti, a fixture in north-west India’s wintertime culinary itinerary, would make corn seem like an essential cereal. But corn is more feed than food.
Maize production in India has doubled to 24 million tonnes since the turn of the century, the output growing by over seven percent a year. This is more than the growth seen in rice and wheat, though each has an annual output which is four times as large. Average yield per hectare has increased from a low of 1.7 tonnes to more than two and a half tonnes. Government support price has tripled during this period. Only a fifth of the corn consumed in India is directly eaten, a little over a tenth goes for starch, while Chicken feed accounts for sixty percent of domestic consumption.
Suguna is a poultry integrator. It says it works with 24,000 farmers in 10,000 villages across 17 states. “Forus feed is 80 percent of our turnover out of it 60 percent of our volume is maize. It is a very, very important product,” said GB Sunderarajan, MD, Suguna Foods Limited.
It is demand for from the feed and starch industries that keeps farmers in Bihar very busy. One of them is Sudhanshu Kumar, a large farmer in Nayanagar village of Samatipur district. Among fruits his specialty is litchis and has about 140 people working for him. He has been growing maize for more than 30 years..The family once had a flourishing maize seed business. He recalls that maize was not profitable in the past unlike now.
“I think the first reason is the seed. My father used to do a lot of maize and even we did maize. But this single hybrids and new varieties there has been a dramatic change in yield. When we compare it to earlier maize which we used to do it was not profitable. But with the dramatic increase in yield with the latest seed has made all the difference,” said Sudanshu Kumar, panchayat chairman, Nayanagar, Samastipur.
Bihar has taken to maize because it is almost a fail-safe crop during the rabi season. Its five year rabi maize productivity is 3 tonnes per hectare which does not compare with Tamil Nadu’s or Andhra’s but it is but it is higher than that of Karnataka and Maharashtra. But averages conceal wide variations. In these cluster of villages, farmers have got seven and a half to eight tonnes per hectare. Last year it was higher. And each has a unique reason for adopting maize.
While India’s rabi maize productivity is high, kharif maize grown during monsoons, pulls the average down to 2.5 tonnes per hectare which is less than half of the global average of 5.5 tonnes per hectare. India must increase productivity because there is a big export opportunity to South and South East Asia. Last year, India exported 16 percent of its maize output worth a little over one billion dollars. Domestically, the poultry industry is growing at about ten percent a year, the starch industry at twelve percent and there rude demand from the food processing industry. Technology is key to yield enhancement. Hybridization has been driven by the private sector after the seed policy was relaxed in 1988 to allow foreign companies in. But only seventy five of 524 districts where maize is grown have a yield of more than three tonnes per hectare.
“There are 80 percent of districts that harvest corn much below the national average. So it is not sustainable for that farmer. We have to educate them and increase their profitability and once that happens, he will invest more and hybridization will take off,” said Sharad Khurana, Country Manager, DuPont Pioneer India.
India’s focus should be on improving maize productivity during the kharif or monsoon season, which accounts for 85 percent of the crop and is grown in rainfed and poor soil conditions. It is a time when maize gets lodged because of strong winds, root rot sets in and there are pest attacks.
“Kharif maize we cannot leave because of low productivity. We must make sure that productivity rises. Why kharif maize productivity is low? Because farmers investment in kharif maize is low. They would not sow good hybrid seed, not apply inputs, and if all those things are going to be taken care of, productivity will rise.” said HS Gupta, Director-General, Borlaug Institute for South Asia.
There are quality issues as well. Indian maize is generally smaller with about 450 grains per hundred grams against 300 grains preferred by the feed industry. The starch content is lesser than US corn. High moisture, because of inadequate drying, also affects quality. But productivity remains a key concern.
The United States gets eleven tonnes per hectare, Argentina eight and Brazil five. All these countries use single cross hybrids that are also genetically modified for insect resistance and herbicide tolerance. These traits plus drought tolerance would be useful for India. In the Philippines genetically modified maize has been as quickly adopted by farmers as Bt cotton in India. Vietnam licensed four varieties in September 2014. Wil India be able to compete without adopting these plant protection and labour saving technologies?
The wheat rice cycle which Punjab has adopted because of assured procurement from the government has played havoc with groundwater. In 9,000 sq km of central Punjab, the water table is below twenty metres or sixty-six feet. In 110 of 138 blocks, the water utilization rate is more than the rate of recharge, says the state’s 2012-13 economic survey. Maize requires less water than rice. Punjab used to grow a lot of maize at one time and makke di rotis were a winter staple, but the state is not finding it easy to persuade farmers to go back to old practices.
At this maize event in Delhi in April, the Punjab government official who is driving the state’s diversification from rice to maize was a trifle unhappy with the results. The state is exporting scarce water in the form of rice, but farmers are reluctant to switch to maize in monsoons as income from the crop does ot match that of rice because of low yield.
“Because the lesser the productivity, lesser the income for farmers. When seed companies come to us and these are tried in regulated environment we get 8 tonnes per ha. But for the last two years we have been trying these hybrids after trials by PAU but still our max productivity is four tonnes per ha, which is not remunerative. We need minimum six to eight tonnes per ha to secure fair remuneration to farmers,” said Suresh Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary, Punjab.
In the 1960s, Punjab had five lakh hectares under maize. It wants as much area under rice to switch to maize over five years, but has managed to reclaim only a quarter of that area so far, despite subsidized seeds and the state investing in facilities like dryers.
“Punjab farmer has not been historically growing corn in large proportions. So question is will I find a buyer for corn or should I grow rice where there is MSP and a buyer. So it is a question of farmer comfort. Third for govt to work closely with farmers, seed companies, input providers as well as processing industry – poultry, starch, food processing. A vibrant ecosystem which works together and stay committed. This is going to take some time,” said Shilpa Divekar Nirula, CEO, Monsanto India.
Pawanjot Singh in Jalander is a supplier of certified seed potatoes to state governments. He used to grow rice on all 160 acres during monsoons, but no longer does as it delays the more remunerative potato crop. By not growing rice and not puddling the paddy fields, he helps recharge the aquifers. But the spring maize that he grows depends entirely on ground water. It is not clear whether his practices are helping or hurting.
Pawanjot Singh said, “I am doing it because I want to my area to survive the water deficiency. This area was growing a lot of paddy. I was also growing 100 pecent paddy at my farm. Now I switched back to corn. My father was growing corn in the 1970s. So that time we were not getting good hybrids. Yields were lot. With new companies coming in we have got good hybrids. My average yield last year was 3.5 tonnes per acre. So I am going pretty good in corn.”
A farmer in Nawanshahar about sixty km from Ludhiana has replaced a quarter of his paddy acreage with maize and intends to do more, after being alarmed by water dropping to below 65 feet. Monsoon maize is a difficult crop, he says, and the bureaucratic ways of the government do not help either.
Ajit Singh Mann of Village Bheen in Nawanshahar said, “The reason for people not doing maize in kharif, is because subsidised maize is given from 20 may to 10 June, which is late. Instead subsidised maize seeds should be supplied at the beginning of May.”
Farmers need migration out of agriculture not diversification, says this exasperated NRI who returned to work the fields eight years ago after a stint at a post office in San Jose in California. The farmer is willing to do whatever the government wants them to, he says, provided yield and price compensate.
Yuvraj Singh Bansi said, “Maize yield is 19 quintals to 22 ha. I do know the views of others farmers. I would urge the government to itself grow on a 20 acre plot and find out for itself. In a big farm you do not get more than 20 quintals. Compare with rice. There is a big issue. Price is an issue.”
The government does not procure despite announcing a support price for maize because it cannot push it through the public distribution system. So the answer lies in encouraging industries that use maize and promoting Quality Protein maize as a preferred food item. In the case of normal maize, only 40 percent of its protein content is absorbed by the body in the absence to two amino acids. But quality protein maize developed by Sudhir Vasal and Evangelina Villegras (pronounced Vee-yeh-gahss) in the 1990s, allows 80 percent of maize protein to be utilised. This is more than that of rice and wheat. What is more, the quality of protein is like that of milk casein.
HS Gupta, Borlaug Institute for South Asia, said, “I expect the market to reward because demand is going to be generated. Once we spread awareness that QPM is of better quality that it is healthier and nutritious and demand will rise.”
QPM has been used in the orange maize campaign in sub-saharan Africa to address protein deficiency. Its productivity, scientists say, is now equal to that of normal maize, but they will have to convince farmers first.
Sudhanshu Kumar said, “I beg to differ. If the productivity had come to par I would be the first person to do it. I tried Shaktiman I, Shaktiman 2, right up to Shaktiman 3 alongside these other hybrids. I was never able to get those yields. I do not even now inquire about it. But if the university says they have taken out a variety which is at part with that no one has told us about it. There is something wrong with the extension work. Because I would have known it first and I would have loved to try it out in my field.”
Currently, hardly one percent of maize is quality protein maize. The Indian government should sell it through ration shops and push it to schools for mid-day meals and as a supplement for infants and new mothers in anganwadis. Food processers should be able to charge a premium for QPM fortified atta and pay a higher price to growers. This is one grain that could address the issues of nutrition security with environmental sustainability.
To know more, watch 'Smart Agriculture' presented by Monsanto, every Saturday & Sunday at 4:30 PM and Monday at 5:30 PM on CNN-IBN and every Saturday & Sunday at 4:30 PM on CNBC-Awaaz.
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