It has been over 10 days since farmers of Gadag district in north Karnataka began an indefinite agitation demanding Minimum Support Price (MSP) of ₹3,000 per quintal for maize. Farmers in the neighbouring districts too are up in arms against the Central and State governments over the plummeting price of maize.
While the Centre has fixed an MSP at ₹2,400 per quintal for maize, the prevailing price in Karnataka is ₹1,600 to ₹1,800 per quintal. The prices, which began declining in September, have dropped suddenly over the last fortnight.
The plight of the farmers in Karnataka, which is among the top maize-producing States in the country, seems to have been buried under the cacophony over the “power-sharing formula” between the Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, and the Deputy Chief Minister, D.K. Shivakumar.
The protest by maize farmers comes at a time when the State government is yet to recover from the floods that destroyed crops. That was followed by series of protests by sugarcane farmers seeking a Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of ₹3,500 per tonne for sugarcane. The State government recently managed to convince the farmers to agree to an FRP of ₹3,300 per tonne.
The Opposition BJP has been quick to grab this opportunity to portray the ruling disposition as “anti-farmer”, just ahead of the winter session of the State legislature. In response, the Congress has argued that the Union government’s intervention is crucial in resolving both maize and sugarcane issues. It has mocked the opposition MPs of Karnataka for not having the gumption to raise the issue with their own party leaders at the Centre.
Last week, Mr. Siddaramaiah wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in the procurement of maize and also green gram, which has seen a price drop as well. He said that Mr. Modi should direct the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), the Food Corporation of India, and the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) to begin MSP procurement immediately under the Price Support Scheme or another suitable mechanism. Mr. Siddaramaiah contended that increased imports has also added to the crisis.
The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Pralhad Joshi, responded by lobbing the ball back to the State’s court and insisting that the authority on implementing the MSP or FRP rests with the State government. He has also rubbished Mr. Siddaramaiah’s claims on imports, stating that it is only 0.5 lakh metric tonnes this fiscal.
Amid the political blame game, one of the basic issues that has gone unaddressed is the rapid expansion of maize cultivation in Karnataka. Maize in Karnataka has replaced rain-fed crops such as potato, cotton, groundnut, ragi, and sorghum. In 2023, the cultivated area under maize in the State was 10.3 lakh hectares. For the current year, up to July 5, it was 13.98 lakh hectares, up from 12.20 lakh hectare last year in the same period.
According to market experts, this year, multiple factors including supply-demand disparity, reduced exports due to downward trend in global cereal prices, and related factors caused the price drop. Ethanol blending results in the production of large quantities of Distiller’s Dried Grains with Solubles, a substitute for conventional feed grains, which is cited as another factor reducing the demand for maize in the livestock sector. Also, while Karnataka has produced over 55 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of maize during kharif 2025, it has a marketable surplus of 32 lakh tonnes, which far exceeds the absorptive capacity of local industries. Added to the problem is the existing additional stock with the distilleries from the previous year’s procurement.
A positive development amid the crisis is Mr. Siddaramaiah’s promise about starting procurement under MSP by the State. However, this is yet to translate into a government order. He has also written to the distilleries in the State to sign up with NAFED and NCCF for the production of ethanol using maize.
Farmers who cultivate maize in Karnataka, mostly in the central and northern districts, have demanded action both by the State and the Centre to come up with a long-term solution. This demand currently seems lost on both ruling and Opposition party leaders.