Agriculture is a source of food, feed, fibre and fuel. Take cotton: The raw kapas bolls that farmers harvest yield not just the white fluffy fibres or lint. They also contain seeds, from which edible oil (food) is extracted. The residual protein-rich cake after oil extraction is used as a feed ingredient for cattle and poultry. But it is the fourth ‘F’ – as fuel – that’s creating ripples, if not consternation, among existing user industries. This is especially so with maize. Imbalance from ethanol Story continues below this ad Till 2021-22, India’s maize output, at 32-33 million tonnes (mt), exceeded domestic demand of around 28 mt. It even left a surplus for exports, which touched 3.7 mt in 2021-22. Out of the 28 mt demand, roughly 20 mt was from the livestock feed industry. That included 15 mt for poultry (both broiler chicken and egg layer birds) and 5 mt for cattle feed. Another 5 mt was for industrial starch production, 2 mt for direct human consumption, and 1 mt for seed and other …