NEW DELHI, March 5 -- India has drawn up plans to divert more maize to make ethanol for the country's fuel-blending programme and ramp up output nearly 10 times in five years, three officials said on Monday.
The Centre has also signed off on a scheme to procure maize at federally fixed minimum support prices (MSP) and supply it to distilleries, as part of a strategy to meet India's biofuels needs. Maize, or corn, the third most-grown cereal, has emerged as a strategically important commercial crop in the country because of its use in making ethanol, which is blended with petrol. The country aims to lessen the use of sugarcane-based ethanol over the years and utilise more maize grown in a sustainable way for which the Union government has a...