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India’s Biofuel Development: Swings and Roundabouts Govindasamy Agoramoorthy* College of Environmental Sciences, Tajen University, Yanpu, Pingtung 907, Taiwan & Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology, Bhuj, India
Pratiksha Patel Himadri, A-506 Wall Street 2, Ahmedabad, India for 5% blending until 2016−2017 because the annual growth demand is estimated at 3% for potable ethanol and 3.5% for industrial ethanol.1 But the problematic fact is that India largely depends on domestic sugar cane molasses and sometimes, the production drops due to unpredictable monsoons and droughts. For example, the sugar cane production drastically dropped during 2003−2004 triggering the import of ethanol and molasses from overseas. Therefore, we argue that India needs to target on alternative biofuel sources from the nonedible oil seed producing native trees such as Calophyllum inophyllum, Azadirachta indica, Pongamia pinnata, Madhuca indica, and Shorea robusta.4 These trees have great biofuel potential since they are widely distributed across rural areas and their seldom used seeds are known to have high oil contents. When the edible oil prices go up, people are forced to source for nonedible oils that are needed daily for domestic, religious, and cultural uses. As a result, the nonedible oil sector requires over 15 million tonnes of seeds processed in villages as cottageindustries. Hence it is imperative for the Indian government, NGOs, and corporate sectors to develop systematic collection and processing of these often ignored oil seeds for biofuel production. Furthermore, many multinational corporations (MNC) have offices and outlets across India. They often use huge fleets of petrol/diesel-operated vehicles contributing millions of tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere.5 Therefore the government must enforce a certificate system for MNCs to involve in biofuel programs to enhance biofuel production and reduce CO2 emissions. The MNSc can ideally buy the nonedible seeds from local communities in villages through NGOs. If the oil seeds are collected at grassroots in villages, it will initiate a supply chain that can ultimately link to a national level sustainable community business. The remains of the seeds can be used by farmers to organically feed household biogas plants and as natural fertilizer in farms. Another frustration is that farmers lack confidence in the biofuel business due to their inadequate knowledge and inefficient dissemination of biofuel policy information. Moreover, they are not given any support price for seed collection and they lack long-term purchase contracts from companies. Most farmers are not aware of the places or companies where they can sell their seeds. Besides, there are no government subsidies to manage biofuel trees. So, the government needs to encourage farmers not only to cultivate but also to manage trees of biofuel potential by developing a farmer-and-corporatefriendly strategy that can enhance propagation, protection,
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an India meet the increasing biofuel demand sustainably? Is it sensible to depend largely on Jatropha for biofuel? What are the economic potentials of harvesting nonedible oil seeds from native plants? Do farmers know all about the biofuel policy? These thorny questions continue to haunt India’s politicians, bureaucrats, and corporate elites. India is the sixth largest consumer of energy in the world and its demand is growing at an annual rate of 4.8%. So, the need for diesel will increase at the rate of 5.8% per year reaching 65 million tonnes by 2030.1 Biofuel is being promoted widely as a solution to rising fuel prices, growing energy demands and to cut greenhouse gases. Therefore governments and companies promote biofuel globally with a priority to cultivate the flowering plant Jatropha, Jatropha curcas that originates from Central America. India has launched an ambitious plan to cultivate Jatropha in 33 million acres of land with a yield potential of 15 million tonnes annually from oil.2 The Jatropha-based firms are rushing to Gujarat State of India where the government has allocated 2 million acres in the fertile Narmada river delta to plant Jatropha. India’s corporate elites such as Reliance Industries, Tata Chemicals, and Essar Group are conducting trials for biofuel development from Jatropha. Meanwhile, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India aims to cultivate Jatropha in 500 000 acres. In spite of the current Jatropha outburst, a recent article rang the alarm bell on the utter failure of Jatropha as a global biofuel savoir.2 The Planning Commission of India’s 12th plan (2011−2012 to 2016−2017) states that the biofuel demand is estimated at 5.0% and 4.5%, respectively. It adds that the present distiller capacity is 2900 million liters per year, which will be sufficient © 2011 American Chemical Society
Received: November 30, 2011 Accepted: December 6, 2011 Published: December 22, 2011 589
dx.doi.org/10.1021/es204309p | Environ. Sci. Technol. 2012, 46, 589−590
Environmental Science & Technology
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collection, extraction, and refinement of biofuel from the nonedible oil seeds across rural India. Financial assistance and capacity building are fundamental for farmers to improve their knowledge on collection and processing of oil seeds in villages. The government could start a buy-back system with tree/seed insurance to cope with failures due to natural disasters. India’s biofuel policy states that local nonedible oil seed producing plants grown in nonarable lands will be targeted. But we wonder, why the government is reluctant to give loans to the impoverished farmers without financial or property collateral. Until and unless the above discussions are integrated in India’s biofuel policy, the potential to use the now common plants for biofuel extraction will become uncommon in future. Therefore we suggest India’s politicians, policymakers, and corporate leaders to seriously consider the alternative biofuel source from the locally available flora before it is too late.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*Phone: +886-916752019; e-mail:
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REFERENCES
(1) Government of India. Planning Commission Report of the Committee on Development of Biofuel; Planning Commission: Delhi, 2003. (2) Agoramoorthy, G. Sustainable Development: The Power of Water to Ease Poverty and Enhance Ecology; Daya Publishing House: Delhi, 2009. (3) Kant, P.; Wu, S. The extraordinary collapse of Jatropha as a global biofuel. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2011, 45, 7114−7115. (4) Onga, H. C.; Mahliaa, T. M .I.; Masjukia, H. H.; Norhasyima, R. S. Comparison of palm oil, Jatropha curcas and Calophyllum inophyllum for biodiesel: A review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2011, 15, 3501−3515. (5) Winters, A.; Yusuf, S. Dancing with giants: China. In India, And the Global Economy; World Bank: Washington, DC, 2007.
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dx.doi.org/10.1021/es204309p | Environ. Sci. Technol. 2012, 46, 589−590
