Corn Maze: Inside the Farm to Fuel Tank Drive

As demand for ethanol blending grows, farmers are switching to biofuel crops such as corn. But at what price?

- Sayantan Bera

These days, Abhishek Raghuvanshi is grinning from ear to ear, literally, thanks to corn becoming a big part of his life. In June, Raghuvanshi, an affluent farmer from Vidisha district in Madhya Pradesh, planted the crop in place of soybean on a third of his family farm. It was a first for him. The reason: low soy prices. Corn, also known as maize, offered hope. With demand for the grain soaring because of rising production of ethanol, a biofuel blended with petrol, and competing demand from the poultry industry, which uses it as animal feed, Raghuvanshi joined a band of farmers from his neighborhood who had switched to corn.

But the switch has not been smooth, courtesy some uninvited guests. Rodents snacked on corn seeds planted beneath the soil before they could sprout. Some plots had to be replanted. Raghuvanshi is now waiting for the dreaded wild boars. These beasts, which often weigh more than an overweight human (90-110 kg), are expected to arrive as the corn ripens. "I have to fence the field with electric wires because that is the only way to stop them," he said.

Raghuvanshi explained that his decision to move away from soybean is a calculated bet. Bean prices are hovering around ₹4,500 per quintal, near levels last seen in 2020. Corn prices meanwhile have surged from ₹1,400 per quintal to more than ₹2,200 last year, an increase of over 50%. "By replacing soy with corn, I am expecting to make ₹15,000 more on every acre, net of all costs," he said. On his 30-acre corn plot, that translates to ₹4.5 lakh (to spend ₹50,000 on an electric fence thus seems a good investment).