Farmers in flood-prone Kosi in Bihar see a pot of gold in E20

Ethanol and E20 debates aside, Bihar's flood-hit Kosi plains tell another story: incomes have doubled in five years, thanks to 'Peela Sona' (yellow gold), as locals call it.

In Kosi, maize tells the story of how a national energy policy is proving to be a game-changer.

Raman Kumar Rahi (52), a farmer from Suypaul's Kudiya Patti village, sold his maize harvest a week ago for ₹13 lakh from 20 acres. After investing around ₹8 lakh, he nearly doubled his money in six months. "Peela Sona (Yellow Gold)," he says of maize.


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"No bank or savings scheme can guarantee this kind of return. I could have earned more, but the crop was affected due to untimely thunderstorms and rains in March," he said. The monsoons have arrived, and Rahi is now preparing for paddy crops.

Rahi's daughter is preparing for the NEET examination in Purnea, about 120 km from his village, while his son is in Class 10. He plans to send him to Purnea after Class 10 for better education. Rahi is not an exception.

ET's Kumar Anshuman travelled through Kosi and Seemanchal regions of Bihar starting from Purnea to Madhepura, Katihar, Supaul and Saharsa, a region around Kosi River which used to be called the 'Curse of Bihar'. The region is going through a silent revolution mostly due to adoption of maize cultivation by farmers.

The Maize Story

It's not that the farmers in this region were not growing maize previously. But the scale was smaller and the returns limited.

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"We were more into wheat and jute farming and a small amount of maize. I remember maize was at ₹800 per quintal in 2010. Today, it hovers around ₹1,800 to ₹1,900 per quintal," said Arvind Singh (61), a farmer from Parora village in Purnea.

With his 8 acres, Arvind Singh earned ₹40,000 per acre selling maize.

"Whatever money you see in the villages these days, is mainly due to maize. Those who couldn't afford a cycle now have a motorbike," Uday Shankar Choudhary, a farmer with 35 acres in Parora, told ET. In the flood-prone region, the crop cycle of maize gives them the edge to recover the losses, if any, in the kharif paddy crop. In Bihar, maize is a rabi crop and farming starts in October and ends in March-April. The monsoons set in June and remain till September when the areas get waterlogged.

"Earlier, the process of removing corn kernels from the corn was manual and labour-intensive. Now there are machines to remove it. The early heat of March and April helps us dry the kernels," Shyam Yadav, a farmer from Jadia told ET.

The Ethanol Effect

Till five years ago, maize was never considered a cash crop in Bihar. Its use was limited to food, starch and purchase by some FMCG companies for corn flakes and popcorn. Large-scale traders would buy from local traders. "Things have changed in last 10 years. The growing demand for chicken and eggs has led to increase demand for corn for poultry feed. Over the past 3-4 years, the ethanol industry has come as major demand driver," Mithilesh Kumar (58), a farmer from Nakta village in Supaul told ET.

In March 2021, Bihar became the first government to bring the Ethanol Production Policy.

"I observed that only agri-based industry can grow in Bihar. At that time, the Union government was pitching for ethanol blending in petrol and other biofuels. This was an opportunity for Bihar to connect farming to industry. We invited industries to establish ethanol plants in Bihar. That changed everything," Shahnawaz Hussain, former state industries minister told ET.

Bihar has 12 grain-based ethanol plants where they use maize or broken rice to produce ethanol.

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"Of our total ethanol production, 40% is produced using broken rice we purchase from FCI and the remaining 60% is from maize," Ajay Singh, MD of Bharat Plus Ethanol Private Limited, told ET.

Bihar's Maize Revolution

In 2018, Bihar was the third-largest maize producing state with a total yield of 3.02 million tonne accounting for 11% of the total maize production in India. However, over the next three years, it slipped from the top-three list only to make a comeback in 2022 when it became the second-largest maize producing state with Karnataka at the top and Madhya Pradesh third. Total maize production was 4.61 million tonnes accounting for 13% of the country's total maize production. Since then, Bihar has remained among the top-three maize-producing states.

As per Economic Survey 2025-26, Bihar was third-largest maize-producing state with 5.47 million tonnes (12.6%) behind Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

Beyond Farming

The maize story has created an entire rural economy around trading, storage and transportation. Parth Choudhary (28), an MBA graduate from IIM Kozhikode, was working in the power sector in Gurgaon on a decent salary. His father is a large-scale maize farmer in Parora. In 2023, Parth entered maize trading by constructing four small warehouses to store the produce. He started purchasing directly from farmers and in the first year he purchased 300 tonne of maize. He doubled the purchase for two years and last year he traded 1200 tonne. "Last year was very good. Maize storage doesn't require cooling or protection from rotting. My gross profit was 20% and net profit was 13-15%. From ₹48 lakh in the first year, I have now invested ₹2.3 cr in the business," he says. Parth said this year has not been good because of pre-monsoon rain and thunderstorms. "The maize produce from Karnataka and other southern states start hitting the market from October. We sell it just before that when the rates are good," Parth says. His buyers are often large traders, ethanol plant owners or poultry feed-making companies.

Pappu Yadav(52), a commission agent, has been in maize trade for the past 10 years in Gulab Bagh Mandi, Purnea, the biggest maize trading hub in the region. "I have seen several ups and downs in the rate and production of maize. It has stabilised a bit in last few years giving decent return. I have witnessed the transformation in farmer's income with maize production," he says.

Demand for MSP

Farmers feel ensuring a minimum support priceby the government could make their lives better. MSP for maize is at ₹2,410 per quintal.

"Like rice and paddy, there is no assured procurement for maize. There is no mandi system in Bihar. We are dependent on private traders and don't have much bargaining power," Rahi laments. "We urge the government to step in to procure maize at MSP."

Vijay Kumar Sinha, state agriculture minister, said he cannot promise procurement of maize but assures a better mandi infrastructure.