Biofuel craze catches on in India
The bio fuel craze is catching on in India , even though it is still importing cooking oil or raw materials for the same.
"We are subsidizing the farmer 100 per cent for growing" oilseed crops for bio diesel production for the past three years in different parts of India.
The government is behind the bio fuels push as it increases farmers' incomes, brings employment to rural areas and lowers greenhouse gas emissions.
India, one of the world's fastest growing developing economies since 1990, is the second most populous country in the world behind China and the third largest economy in Asia.
The farmer having a key role in India should be taken care of first and bio diesel crops promise the same.
The US Agriculture Department puts India's 2006/07 oilseed production at 29.5 million tonnes, which includes cottonseed, peanut, rapeseed, soybeans and sunflower seed. India is among the largest soybean producers in the world at 7.3 million tonnes, but it is dwarfed by US soy production at nearly 87 million tonnes last year.
Only marginal land is being brought back into production, mainly dry land and non irrigated land to meet the expanding bio diesel demands. Land used to grow food is not part of the mix usually.
It raises the danger of edible oils being diverted from food consumption.
In Kerala too this craze is catching on, some farmers (mainly rubber) are thinking of re plantation and have started openly stating so in the media. One factor that should be kept in mind is that rubber seed oil too can be used to make bio diesel so all farmers should make sure that Jatropha does not become the next Vanilla.
So let us go about this fuel revolution with a lot more thought and proper knowledge than we did in the past.
"We are subsidizing the farmer 100 per cent for growing" oilseed crops for bio diesel production for the past three years in different parts of India.
The government is behind the bio fuels push as it increases farmers' incomes, brings employment to rural areas and lowers greenhouse gas emissions.
India, one of the world's fastest growing developing economies since 1990, is the second most populous country in the world behind China and the third largest economy in Asia.
The farmer having a key role in India should be taken care of first and bio diesel crops promise the same.
The US Agriculture Department puts India's 2006/07 oilseed production at 29.5 million tonnes, which includes cottonseed, peanut, rapeseed, soybeans and sunflower seed. India is among the largest soybean producers in the world at 7.3 million tonnes, but it is dwarfed by US soy production at nearly 87 million tonnes last year.
Only marginal land is being brought back into production, mainly dry land and non irrigated land to meet the expanding bio diesel demands. Land used to grow food is not part of the mix usually.
It raises the danger of edible oils being diverted from food consumption.
In Kerala too this craze is catching on, some farmers (mainly rubber) are thinking of re plantation and have started openly stating so in the media. One factor that should be kept in mind is that rubber seed oil too can be used to make bio diesel so all farmers should make sure that Jatropha does not become the next Vanilla.
So let us go about this fuel revolution with a lot more thought and proper knowledge than we did in the past.
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