Maharashtra drought deepens worries over feed grain supplies for India’s livestock sector

Maharashtra is either the largest or second-largest producer of sugarcane, soybean and cotton in India, and a major grower of fruits and vegetables, so a weak kharif season there is felt well beyond the state’s own farms and mandis.

Divya Kumar Gulati

Divya Kumar Gulati, Chairman of the Compound Livestock Feed Manufacturers Association of India (CLFMA of India), said the situation has implications that reach into the livestock value chain.

“The emerging drought-like situation in Maharashtra is a concern not only for farmers but for the wider livestock value chain. The impact on crops such as corn and soybean could have a direct bearing on the availability and prices of key feed ingredients in the coming season. Maharashtra is an important agricultural state, and any significant reduction in corn and soybean output can tighten feed raw material supplies and increase input costs for poultry, dairy and other livestock segments,” he explained.

For the livestock sector, he continued, feed availability is closely linked to production stability and farm economics. If feed ingredients become scarce or significantly more expensive, the pressure ultimately moves through the value chain, from farmers and producers to the prices of milk, eggs and meat. This can affect both the viability of livestock producers and the affordability of animal protein for consumers.

“It is therefore important that the situation is assessed comprehensively and that timely measures are taken to safeguard the availability of feed raw materials in the coming season. Ensuring adequate supplies of corn and soybean, along with supporting affected farmers and strengthening supply-chain preparedness, will be critical to preventing a temporary agricultural shock from translating into wider feed and food inflation,” Mr Gulati said.

The warning lands at an already stretched moment for Indian feed economics.

• Corn at the Alangeyam market in Tamil Nadu climbed from around USD 264 to USD 287 a ton between August 2025 and August 2026.
• Soybean meal at Indore moved even more sharply, from about USD 397 a ton in August 2025 to a peak of USD 605 in August 2026, before easing back to the USD 507 to USD 509 range as fresh kharif soybean supplies came into view.

Feed accounts for 65-70% of the cost of producing eggs and broiler meat in India, so swings of this size move quickly into farmgate prices.

Supply-side pressure on corn is unlikely to ease soon regardless of how the Maharashtra situation resolves. Kharif corn acreage nationally is down by about 4.1% this season, and the US Department of Agriculture projects India’s 2026-27 corn output will fall to around 50 million tons from 55.1 million tons the previous year.

Soybean meal, by contrast, has room to soften further if the kharif soybean harvest due in October and November comes in as expected, and if roughly 0.9 million tons of contracted soybean imports arrive as planned.

Maharashtra’s government has so far stopped short of a formal drought declaration. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his cabinet discussed the rain shortfall this month and set up a sub-committee under Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule to assess crop losses and coordinate relief, while directing the state administration to stay on alert.

Opposition leaders, including Congress’s Vijay Wadettiwar and Praniti Shinde and members of the Shiv Sena (UBT), have pressed for an immediate drought declaration, arguing that farmers need relief measures such as crop loan waivers, fodder camps and tanker water supply without waiting for the usual post-monsoon assessment timeline. Some ruling-coalition legislators from Marathwada have made the same request to the Chief Minister.

For now, CLFMA’s message to the sector is one of preparedness rather than alarm: track how the corn and soybean crop develops over the coming weeks, and have supply-chain and procurement plans ready so that a regional dry spell does not turn into a wider feed shortage.