Biofuels
Promise / Prospects
Anil Kumar
Rajvanshi, Vrijendra Singh and
Nandini Nimbkar
Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute
(NARI)
P.O. Box 44, Lonand Road,
Phaltan-415523, Maharashtra
Phone : 02166-222396
Fax : 02166-220945
e-mail address :nariphaltan@gmail.com
Abstract
The prospects of using
agricultural material for biofuel in India for energy purposes are
evaluated. A strategy is developed so that from a given piece of land maximum
bio-energy and remuneration to the farmers result. For this it is proposed that
on a given land area in one year two crops can be grown, viz. sweet sorghum
during monsoon followed by a winter oilseed or a monsoon oilseed followed by
sweet sorghum in winter.
Thus the values of the product of
bio-energy and net returns (BENR) were estimated for the different cropping
systems evaluated. The highest values of BENR under rainfed conditions were
obtained from a combination of sweet sorghum in monsoon and either groundnut,
rapeseed, mustard, sunflower or safflower (in that order) in winter. Under
irrigation highest BENR values were obtained for castor in monsoon and sweet
sorghum in winter followed by sweet sorghum in monsoon with either mustard or
groundnut in winter.
It is shown that with this
strategy not only the country can become self-sufficient in edible oil but will
also have the potential of taking care indigenously of a substantial proportion
of its energy needs.
In order that this strategy is
followed on a large scale certain policy initiatives are suggested.
1. Introduction
The ever
rising cost of fossil fuel internationally has forced major world economies,
which are also major importers of fossil fuel, to examine renewable and cheaper
alternatives to fossil fuel to meet their energy demands. Biodiesel and bioethanol have emerged as the
most suitable renewable alternatives to fossil fuel as their quality
constituents match diesel and petrol respectively. In addition
they are less polluting than their fossil fuel counterparts.
Environmental concerns and the desire to be less dependent on imported fossil
fuel, have intensified worldwide efforts for production of biodiesel from
vegetable oils and ethanol from starch and sugar producing crops.
The use of
vegetable oil for energy purposes is not new. It has been used world over as a
source of energy for lighting and heating since time immemorial. As early as in
1900, a diesel-cycle engine was demonstrated to run wholly on groundnut oil at the
Paris
exposition. Even the technology of
conversion of vegetable oil into biodiesel is not new and is well established.
However the unprecedented rise in fuel prices recently has made it economically
attractive. The present availability of vegetable oils in the world is more
than enough to meet the edible oil requirements, and surplus quantity available
can partially meet requirements of biodiesel production. However, there is a
considerable potential to further enhance the oilseeds production in the world
to meet the increasing demand for food and biodiesel.
India is a huge importer of crude
oil and spends about Rs. 1,200 billion of foreign exchange every year to meet
75% of its oil needs (Anand, 2006). This has affected its balance of payment
adversely, especially after the unprecedented rise in crude oil prices. Being
an agricultural country endowed with varied climates, nutrient-rich soil and
ability to grow many different crops, India offers a great promise as a
producer of surplus raw material for biodiesel and bioethanol production.
Though presently it meets around 30-40% of its vegetable oil requirements
through imports, India
has a potential and capability to produce enough vegetable oil not only to meet
its edible oil requirements but also for biodiesel production. The present
paper discusses the promise and prospects of using vegetable oil as a biofuel
with specific reference to Indian situation.
2. World
Biofuel Scenario
2.1
Area, production and productivity of oilseeds in the world and in India
Worldwide,
oilseed crops occupy an area of 166.36 million hectares with a production of
295.6 million tonnes and productivity of 1777 kg/ha (FAO, 2003). In India, area
under oilseeds is 23.7 million hectares with a production of about 25 million
tonnes and a productivity of just about one tonne/hectare. The oilseed
production in the country presently meets only 60-70% of its total edible oil
requirements and the rest is met through imports.
India also has a potential of
collecting 5 million tonnes of tree-borne oilseeds (TBO) of which only 0.1-1
million tonnes are being collected presently (Kumar, 2003). In addition to the
existing potential of TBO, there is about 60 million hectares of wasteland of
which 30 million hectares can be suitably utilized for growing plantations of
biofuel plants like Jatropha. It has
been estimated that each hectare can produce about 2000 liters of biodiesel/year after the initial 3-year
period of establishment of Jatropha
in the field (Shukla, 2005; Ghaisas, 2005).
This will result in the production of 60 billion liters of biofuel. Thus
TBO from the wasteland can make a significant and important contribution to the
energy requirement of the country in the days ahead.
2.2 Global biodiesel production scenario
Biodiesel is a fast-developing
alternative fuel in the U.S.
and Europe.
Pilot plants for power generation and encouraging adaptation by fleet
operators have established biodiesel as a viable and sustainable alternate
fuel. The biodiesel production from vegetable oils during 2004-05 was estimated
to be 2.36 million tonnes globally. Of
this EU countries accounted for 1.93 million tonnes, U.S. produced 0.14 million tonnes
and rest of the world 0.29 million tonnes (Parikh, 2005). The EU usage of vegetable oil for biodiesel
has been rising at about 30% annually in the last two years. In EU, rapeseed is
the main source of oil for biodiesel, while in the U.S. soybean oil is used for
manufacturing biodiesel. Malaysia
- the largest producer of palm oil has set up three palm biodiesel plants with
a combined annual capacity of 60,000 tonnes.
2.3 World ethanol production
With the
provision of addition of 5-10% of ethanol in petrol and diesel in most of the
crude oil importing countries, there has been a substantial rise in ethanol
production in last few years. Among the
ethanol producing countries, Brazil
produces the maximum amount of ethanol (15099 million liters/year) followed by
the U.S. (13381 million
liters/year), China (3649
million liters/year) and India
(1749 million liters/year) (Table 1). Sugar cane is the major source of ethanol
in Brazil, while in the U.S. it is
produced from corn (Peterson, 2006).
Biofuels in
general have often been categorized as first and second generation. The first
generation biofuels are the fuels which are produced from conventional
agricultural crops by well-established technologies such as biodiesel from oil
crops and ethanol from sugar and starch producing crops. The second-generation
biofuels on the other hand are produced from the agricultural waste - mainly
the lignocellulosic material. However they require advanced production
(conversion) technologies. Overall, high energy conversion efficiencies and
least cost of production are the key factors for selecting biofuels for the
future.
2.4 Ethanol
production from crop residues
Enough availability of crop
residues as a source of feedstock is obviously mandatory for the production of
second-generation biofuels. Annual crop residue availability in the world is
estimated to be about four billion
tonnes, of which the U.S.
and India
account for one billion tonnes (Table 2). Lignocellulosic residues of cereal
crops like corn, rice, wheat, sorghum and millet are best suited for ethanol production and are
estimated to be about 3 billion tonnes/annum in the world and 0.4 billion
tonnes/annum each in the U.S. and India respectively (Lal, 2006). These are
large quantities and a substantial part of these residues may suitably be used
for biofuel production.
The
potential of bioethanol production from waste crops and crop residues was
estimated by Kim and Dale (2004).
According to them there are 74 Tg (Tg = Teragram = 1012 g = 1
million metric tonnes) of dry waste crops in the world that have a potential to
produce 49 GL (gigaliter or 1 billion liters) of bioethanol/year. It was also
estimated that conversion of 1.5 Pg (Pg = Petagram = 1015 g = 1
billion metric tonnes) of dry lignocellulosic residues of seven crops viz.
corn, barley, oat, rice, wheat, sorghum and sugar cane, could produce an
additional quantity of 442 GL of bioethanol per year. This potential bioethanol
production of 491 GL could replace 353 GL of petrol or about one-third of the
global petrol consumption. The ethanol production potential of residues from
lignocellulosic crops ranges from 0.26 to 0.31 L Kg-1 (Table 3). The
net energy yield of perennial crops ranges from 220-550 GJ/ha/yr, that of
grasses 220-260 GJ/ha/yr and that of sugar cane 400-500 GJ/ha/yr (Hamelinck and
Faaij, 2006).
Use of lignocellulosic
agricultural residues for energy production is thus very favourable and offers
good economic prospects for the future of biofuels. EU has set a target of 1 billion liters of
second generation bioethanol production to be achieved by 2012 (de Miguel,
2006). The prominent high potential fuels are ethanol produced from
agricultural residues rich in lignocellulose, synthetic diesel via
Fischer-Tropsch, methanol and hydrogen (Arthur D. Little, 1999; Katofsky, 1993;
Turkenburg, 2000; Williams et al., 1995). These four fuels are in
attractive stages of development.
2.5 Comparison
of biodiesel and ethanol
Before
striving for commercial scale biofuel production from food crops, it would be
of paramount importance to determine whether biofuels provide any benefit over
the fossil fuels they replace. This needs a thorough analysis of the direct and
indirect inputs and outputs for their full production and use life-cycles. To become a successful substitute for a fossil
fuel, an alternative fuel in addition to having superior environmental benefits
over the fossil fuel should also be produced economically and in sufficient
quantities to meet the energy requirements. Hill et al. (2006) analyzed
the net societal benefits of corn grain (Zea
mays ssp. mays) for ethanol and soybean (Glycine
max) oil for biodiesel - the two
important alternative transportation fuels in U.S.
The study
showed that both corn grain ethanol and soybean biodiesel recorded positive Net
Energy Balances (NEB). The NEB
for corn grain ethanol was recorded as 25% more energy than required to produce
it. However, the soybean biodiesel provided 93% more energy than needed in its production.
As far as
the life-cycle environmental effects were concerned, the study showed that both
corn and soybean production have negative environmental impacts through
movement of agrochemicals especially nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and
pesticides from farms to other habitats and aquifers. Data on efficiencies of
net energy production from agrochemical inputs in corn and soybean reveal
(after partitioning these inputs between the energy product and co-products),
that biodiesel uses only 1.0% of the N, 8.3% of the P and 13% of the pesticides
on weight basis. Although blending
ethanol with petrol at low levels as an oxygenate was reported to result in
lower emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), total life-cycle emissions of five
major air pollutants [CO, VOC, PM10, oxides of sulphur (SOx) and
oxides of nitrogen (NOx)] are higher with the E85 (85% corn grain
ethanol-petrol blend) than with petrol per unit of energy released upon
combustion (Hill et al., 2006). The study further revealed
that production and use of corn grain ethanol releases 88% of the net green
house gas (GHG) emissions of production and combustion of an energetically
equivalent amount of petrol. On the other hand life-cycle GHG emissions of
soybean biodiesel were recorded to be 59% of those for diesel fuel.
Because fossil fuel energy use imposes
environmental costs not considered in market prices, benefits of biofuel to society not only
depend on its cost competitiveness compared to fossil fuel but also on its
environmental costs and benefits vis-ŕ-vis its fossil fuel alternatives. Subsidies for otherwise economically
uncompetitive biofuels are justified if their life-cycle environmental impacts
are sufficiently less than for alternatives.
3.
Status of Biofuel Production in India
3.1 Biodiesel
India consumes
more than 250 million tonnes of fossil fuels every year. This comprises of approximately 40 million
tonnes of diesel. India is ranked fifth in the world after China, Japan,
Russia and the U.S. in terms
of fossil fuel consumption. Recently in India
the Planning Commission, Government of India launched National Mission on
Biodiesel with a view to find a cheap and renewable liquid fuel based on
vegetable oils (Shukla, 2005). The rural development ministry has been
appointed as the nodal ministry for implementing the programme. This mission is being carried out in two
phases the first phase involving a demonstration stage for plantation of Jatropha on four lakh hectares and
associated research activities for establishing the commercial viability of the
fuel, and phase two for carrying out a self-sustaining expansion of the
biodiesel programme.
Biodiesel
production in India
has reached a decisive stage and the country is about to make a beginning by
introducing a five percent blend of biodiesel with conventional diesel at selected
districts in different states (Behl, 2006).
In order to attract and secure private participation on larger scale,
Government of India has fixed the procurement price of biodiesel as Rs.
25/liter with a provision to revise it after six months. Some biodiesel units
using TBO and imported palm oil have already started manufacturing biodiesel on
small scale.
Though India is the
fourth largest producer of edible oilseeds in the world, it produces only 60%
of its total oilseed requirement and the rest is met through imports. Despite the low overall oilseed production
presently, the country has a potential not only to become self-sufficient in
but to produce surplus oilseeds simply by following the improved low-input technologies
of oilseeds production and by a proper delineation of government policies
favourable to oilseeds production. These
low input technologies have demonstrated 14-100% increase in seed yield over
the existing practices under different conditions (DOR, 2005).
3.2 Ethanol
production in India
In India, the
worlds second largest sugar producer, ethanol is mainly produced from
molasses, a sugar by-product. Indias
molasses production declined from 8.0 million tonnes in 2002-03 to 5.0 million
tonnes in 2004-05 due to poor sugar cane output. However it has started rising again and is
expected to achieve record levels this year.
The first
phase of the ethanol-blended petrol was to have been launched in January 2003,
but it took the industry a good three years to iron out start-up glitches. One
issue was that the ethanol imported from Brazil was available at a lower
price than domestic ethanol. Even at the 5% blend level being implemented
currently there is a shortfall of 225 million liters of ethanol for the oil
companies whose current demand is put at 435 million liters (Sify business,
2006).
India
produced 1749 million liters of ethanol in 2004 mainly from sugar cane
(Peterson, 2006), and has a very high potential to increase it further by using
sweet sorghum, sugar beet and sugar cane juice as potential feedstock
options. Another potential source of
ethanol can be cellulosic energy crops and crop residues as well as other waste
products high in cellulose.
4. Biofuel
Strategy for India
Domestic
supply of crude oil meets only about 22% of the demand for surface
transportation in India,
while the rest is being met from imported crude. Biodiesel and ethanol both are liquid
biofuels and are considered as promising alternatives for diesel and petrol,
particularly in the transport sector.
A number of
developmental activities are being taken up in the country for the production of biofuels which include 5%
compulsory blend of ethanol in petrol and 5% biodiesel blend in diesel. These trials are on in various states and the
Government of India wants to increase these blends to 10%.
Though
ethanol definitely has a role to play in future as a petrol supplement, there
are several restraints to its use and small scale on-farm production, the major
one being the onerous customs and excise regulations. Nevertheless a strategy to use both fuels
(ethanol and biodiesel) as blends will be beneficial to Indian economy. The strategy consists of producing ethanol
and biodiesel from crops to be grown on the same piece of land in different
seasons. Since sugar cane is a long
duration crop, sweet sorghum which is a 4-month crop is more suitable for such
rotation.
Thus it is
proposed that from a given piece of land two crops can be taken, viz. sweet
sorghum during monsoon followed by a winter oilseed or a monsoon oilseed
followed by sweet sorghum in winter. In addition to ethanol and oil, they will
also yield food grain, meal suitable for animal feed and biomass residues which
can also be converted to ethanol. These crops can give a reasonable output even
under rainfed conditions with low external input. Though the crops can be grown
under a rainfed situation, in most cases just 2-3 irrigations at critical stages can produce a
significant increase in both net returns and bio-energy production.
Four of the
oilseed crops considered viz. rapeseed, mustard, safflower and linseed can be
grown only in winter, while groundnut, sunflower and sesame can be grown in
either monsoon or winter and castor, niger, soybean and cotton only in
monsoon. Sweet sorghum can be grown in
either monsoon or winter, but there is considerable decrease in its stalk yield
accompanied by an increase in the yield of grain in the winter crop.
4.1 Energy
production from oil
The
assessment of potential biodiesel yield from different oilseed crops has been
done and is presented in table 4. The
results reveal that under irrigated conditions the maximum bio-energy
production of 61.1 X 103
MJ/ha/season can be obtained from the oil of castor which is followed by
groundnut (45.5 X 103 MJ/ha/season),
sunflower (27.4 X 103 MJ/ha/season) and mustard (23.6 X 103 MJ/ha/season). The maximum bio-energy production from oil
under rainfed conditions is given by groundnut (31.2 X 103 MJ/ha/season),
which is followed by castor (25.8 X 103 MJ/ha/season) and sunflower
(16.7 X 103 MJ/ha/season). The agricultural residues - a potential
source of second generation biofuels is generally either burnt in the field
itself or is used for household purposes like cooking. It does not have any worthwhile
use at present. By taking into consideration the possibility of development of
suitable technology for bioethanol production from residues in near future, the
production of ethanol bio-energy from agricultural residues of the oilseed
crops has been estimated (Table 4).
4.2 Energy
production from oil and crop residues
Calculations
of energy production from residues of different oilseed crops revealed that
under irrigated conditions castor recorded the maximum energy output of 54.2 X
103 MJ/ha/season which was followed by mustard (51.3 X 103 MJ/ha/season)
and sunflower (32.3 X 103 MJ/ha/season). Under rainfed conditions
maximum energy production from crop residues is obtained from rapeseed (26.4 X
103 MJ/ha/season), which is followed by castor (22.9 X 103 MJ/ha/season)
and mustard (22.7 X 103 MJ/ha/season). The aggregate biofuel
production from oil and crop residues of different oilseeds was estimated to
range from 7.7 X 103 MJ/ha/season obtained from cotton to 49.5 X 103
MJ/ha/season obtained from groundnut under rainfed conditions. Under irrigated
conditions, aggregate biofuel production ranged from 22.8 X 103 MJ/ha/season
in sesame to 115.3 X 103 MJ/ha/season in castor (Table 4). Thus the value addition to the oilseed crop
residues by using them to produce second generation biofuels will help in
getting additional monetary returns from oilseeds. This will considerably raise
the total remuneration from the crops to the farmer. As a result both area
under the oilseed crops and their production in the country will increase. This
will not only make India
oil-sufficient but surplus in oil which can be used for manufacturing of biodiesel.
4.3 Bio-energy
production from oilseeds and sugar producing crops
The comparison
of bio-energy production from oilseeds and sugar producing crops showed that
sugar cane recorded a bio-energy production of 139 X 103
MJ/ha/season while sweet sorghum recorded a bio-energy production of 89.7 X 103
MJ/ha in monsoon and 35.7 X 103
and 42.5 X 103 MJ/ha/season under winter rainfed and
irrigated conditions respectively (Table 4). Sugar cane was observed to produce
higher energy than the highest bio-energy producing oilseed crop viz. irrigated
castor. However, the comparison of bio-energy production from sugar cane with
that from oilseed crops is not justified, since all the oilseed crops compared
are of seasonal (4-5 months duration) nature and are grown under rainfed or
limited irrigation conditions often on marginal soils. Contrary to this, sugar
cane is a 12-18 month crop grown only under extensive irrigated conditions and
usually on good soils with high external input.
To have
energy security and to get maximum remuneration from a rainfed cropping system,
it would be most desirable to have a combination of crops like sweet sorghum
during monsoon and the most promising oilseed crop of the region during winter.
In case of an oilseed like castor or soybean, it can be grown in monsoon
followed by sweet sorghum in winter. By doing this, aggregate energy production
as well as the returns from the rainfed cropping system as a whole can be
maximized. Therefore an assessment of aggregate bio-energy production and net
returns to farmers from both rainfed and irrigated cropping systems has been
done (Tables 5 and 6).
The results
indicate that bio-energy production from sweet sorghum (juice + crop residues)
and oilseed crop (oil + crop residues) under rainfed conditions ranged from
139.2 X 103 MJ/ha/year in sweet sorghum + groundnut to 43.4 X 103
MJ/ha/year in the combination of cotton + sweet sorghum. Sweet sorghum not only gives a very high
yield of crop residues but also juice from stalk and grain for human
consumption. Under irrigated conditions the bio-energy production ranged from
164.6 X 103 MJ/ha/year in
sweet sorghum + mustard to 76.5 X 103 MJ/ha/year in cotton + sweet
sorghum.
Just the
introduction of sweet sorghum in the oilseeds area during monsoon or winter for
production of bio-energy from sweet sorghum juice alone, for which technology
is already in place, can achieve significant biofuel production. Even if only 50% of the 8.5 million ha of
winter oilseeds area is planted with sweet sorghum in monsoon, it can produce
4165 million liters of ethanol which is equivalent to 2546 million liters of
petrol energywise. This assumes a conservative estimate of 35 tonnes/ha of
fresh stalk, juice extraction of 40% and production of 7 liters ethanol/100
liters of juice in monsoon. This much ethanol is nearly 3.27% of total
transport fuel consumed in the country and is nearly 6% of the total crude oil
produced in the country (Planning Commission, 2003). Such a system would
enhance the area under sweet sorghum and oilseeds in the country to a
substantial level to produce enough ethanol and surplus oilseeds to be utilized
for bio-energy production.
4.4 Economics
of the sweet sorghum-oilseed cropping system
In addition
to the bio-energy production, it is important to consider the net returns a
farmer is able to get from a given cropping system. As far as a farmer is concerned the end
utilization of his crop is irrelevant.
He is only interested in the total remuneration that he can get from a given piece of land in a year.
Net returns
under rainfed conditions ranged from Rs. 32680/ha/year in soybean + sweet
sorghum to Rs. 19617/ha/year for sweet sorghum + sesame (Table 5, Fig. 2). Under irrigated conditions the net returns
ranged from Rs. 94743/ha/year for castor + sweet sorghum to Rs. 21741/ha/year
for sweet sorghum + sesame (Table 6, Fig. 2). Thus ultimately the promise of a
given cropping system can be determined from the product of its bio-energy
output and net returns it can give to a farmer (BENR).
Under
rainfed conditions the highest values of BENR are given by a combination of
sweet sorghum in monsoon followed by either groundnut, rapeseed, mustard,
sunflower or safflower (in that order) during winter (Table 5, Fig. 3).
As far as
the values of BENR under irrigated conditions were considered, castor-sweet
sorghum was the only crop combination which was better than sugarcane. It was followed by combinations of sweet
sorghum in monsoon with either mustard or groundnut in winter. Cotton in monsoon followed by sweet sorghum
in winter was ranked fourth (Table 6, Fig. 3).
4.5 Tree-borne
oilseeds (TBO)
Tree-borne
minor oilseeds have been accorded very high priority as a source material for
biodiesel production in the country. India
is endowed with a vast potential for oilseeds of tree origin, the important of
them being sal, mahua, neem, rubber,
karanja, kusum, khakan (pilu), undi, dhupa, etc. (Table 7). These
oilseed-bearing trees are found widely and distributed throughout the
country. The present availability of
oilseeds from them is estimated to be about 5 million tonnes annually. However,
only 20% of the total availability is utilized for commercial applications
(Kumar, 2003).
The
availability of TBO can be enhanced considerably without any extra land and
inputs if proper network for procurement from seed collectors is established.
There is a considerable scope to enhance the collection of seeds from the
existing trees by developing infrastructure facilities such as seed/produce
procurement centers equipped with facilities for drying, decorticating,
cleaning/grading, depulping, storing and oil extraction near the areas of
collection of TBO. Establishment of
biodiesel processing units near the
procurement centers will further help in reducing the cost of
transportation of the raw oil to the biodiesel processing plant. This should
result in reasonable remuneration to the primary seed collector and also help
in getting a quality product by reducing losses caused due to delayed and
improper handling of the material at different stages in the existing trade of
TBO in India.
Apart from
the existing trees in the country, there is 60 million hectares of wasteland,
of which 50% can be suitably used for growing TBO plantations like those of Jatropha and karanja. With the recent
central government drive to produce biodiesel from TBO, many state governments
have given very high priority to plantations of Jatropha for biodiesel production. Information from various sources
indicates that area under Jatropha
plantations in the country has gone up to 20,000-30,000 hectares. Governments
of states like Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and
Madhya Pradesh have drawn up plans to take up Jatropha plantations on massive scale.
In order for the above strategy
to become operational, the following policy issues have to be addressed :
Policy issues :
1.
Make long term policy on utilization of edible and
non-edible oils by deciding their allocation for different uses.
2.
Delineate taluka-wise liquid fuel requirements to
decide the cropping pattern to be adopted in them.
3.
Encourage public-private partnerships for successful
large scale implementation of oilseeds program.
4.
In addition to transport sector, investigate use of
vegetable oils or biodiesel for irrigation pumps, diesel generators, farm
equipment, cook stoves, lanterns etc.
5.
Liberalize excise law.
5. Conclusions
The
prospects of using agricultural material for biofuel in India for energy purpose appear to
be promising.
In the
final analysis, the cropping systems with sweet sorghum in monsoon and an
oilseed like groundnut, rapeseed or sunflower in winter appear to be the best
as they have a potential to give high bio-energy production coupled with good
net returns to the farmer under both
rainfed and irrigated conditions.
Cropping
system with castor in monsoon and sweet sorghum in winter was also found to be
promising mainly under irrigated conditions, though it gave very high returns
even under rainfed situation. It is even more attractive as it produces a
non-edible oil. India
is the worlds leading producer of castor and the first in the world to exploit
hybrid vigour in the crop on commercial scale.
Extent of bio-energy outputs and net
returns obtainable from Jatropha is
still a question mark and till the results of trials currently underway are in,
it may not be a good idea to plant large tracts of cultivable land under this
genus. It will be better in the long run
to attempt to increase the area under conventional oilseeds. This in addition
to giving higher remuneration to farmers can potentially alleviate the twin
problems of shortage of edible oils and energy in the country. As a result there will be tremendous savings
to the countrys foreign exchange reserve.
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