New Delhi, Sept. 9 -- 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 neighbourhood who had switched to corn.

But the switch has not been smooth, courtesy some uninvited guests. Rodents snacked on cor...