Only High Risk In Jatropha!!!
Dear Deepak,
I am glad that you are concerned about India and its food and environment issues. Since you are away from India and not familiar with Indian conditions, I give you here the information
about prevailing Indian situation.
Firstly India retail price of Soya and Palm Oil in tin packs is Rs.30/- per kg, slightly less than Diesel price. Per Hectare Yield of Soya and Corn in USA is 3-4 times that of India. Indian agriculture has stagnated and on decline mainly because of farmers exploitation by traders, moneylenders and agro industry.
You oppose monoculture all right but ignore there is nothing for local tribal and farmers and animals in it. They will be required to sell “Tree Seeds” @ Rs.5/- per kg but to buy potato & vegetables they will have to pay Rs. 10- 25 per kg. Even foddar for animals may cost Rs. 2-3 per kg. Crop yields of vegetables and fodders are 10-20 times.
Compared to annual tree seed yield of 1-3 tones per hectare, yield of sugar cane is 80 T, potato 30 T in 4 months and
foddar yields of 30T in 3 months. Mango yields 20T of fruit annually, yield of mango kernels will be more than tree seeds. High farm yield is also indicative of high employment and economic gains to farmers.
But Rajagopal our first priority ought to be production of edible oils and increase our food availability. India imports 5 MT of vegetable oils we should first produce our own edible oil needs. Edible oil exporters may divert cheap soya and palm oil for bio-diesel.
There are huge opportunities in agriculture and horticulture but GOI is, like always foolishly led by “B” grade leaders. It is possible to double food production in 4-5 years.
Farm residue available could be 200 MT more than present. So we don’t need any tree that yield poisonous seeds that is invasive and of no use to humans and animals.
Ravinder Singh
"Deepak Rajagopal" <deepak.rajagopal@...> ------
Hi,
I am studying in the US and have been following the email discussions but haven't participated much till now. I would like to say two things, first about the US biofuels scenario and second the Indian scenario.
The US uses corn and soybeans, which are food grains to produce ethanol and biodiesel. About 17% of all corn is used to produce 4.5 Billion gallons of ethanol which is a mere 3% of the 140 Billions gallons of gasoline it uses today. It is a similar situation for soybeans. So there are serious questions about first the amount of food grains we are using as fuel when there is so much starvation in the third world and second, what is going to happen to the forest and other ecosystems if we are to expand cropland for fuel production. Third, the amount of coal and natural gas used to produce fertilizers and other inputs for cultivation is a big negative for biofuels. What they do achieve is reduce dependence of petroleum, which some people care more about than the previous issues. So people are talking of alternatives like non-grain based fuel like cellulosic ethanol, which is about converting grass, sugarcane bagasse and other agricultural residues into ethanol etc. It is all about biotechnology here and India has to invest in this research.
Second, coming to the Indian scene, I would like to say I am a little troubled by the fact that Jatropha seems to be the only source that people, business and policy makers talk about. The very reason for switching away from petroleum to biofuel is the diverse sources that we could produce it from. Even for biodiesel we have Pongamia, Castor, Neem. I am not proposing Soy or Palm because these are edible oils which sell at Rs.60 per kg and no one would want to sell it as fuel @ Rs.35/lit not to mention the kind of land and other inputs we need for growing them. Atleast we are looking at wastelands and not agricultural lands.
In conclusion,
1. I am NOT OPTIMISTIC about sugarcane-ethanol and palm or soy-biodiesel in the long run
2. I strongly favour diversification away from Jatropha into Pongamia, Castor, Neem and also oppose monocropping. Especially Pongamia seems to offer higher benefits in all aspects expect for the 1 or 2 additional years of waiting for maturation.
3. Above all, we need to talk about conservation and fuel efficiency as the least-cost best-fit option for fuel shortage problems. We cannot just look at increasing supply like the US.
I will be glad to hear your comments
Sincerely
Deepak Rajagopal
I am studying in the US and have been following the email discussions but haven't participated much till now. I would like to say two things, first about the US biofuels scenario and second the Indian scenario.
The US uses corn and soybeans, which are food grains to produce ethanol and biodiesel. About 17% of all corn is used to produce 4.5 Billion gallons of ethanol which is a mere 3% of the 140 Billions gallons of gasoline it uses today. It is a similar situation for soybeans. So there are serious questions about first the amount of food grains we are using as fuel when there is so much starvation in the third world and second, what is going to happen to the forest and other ecosystems if we are to expand cropland for fuel production. Third, the amount of coal and natural gas used to produce fertilizers and other inputs for cultivation is a big negative for biofuels. What they do achieve is reduce dependence of petroleum, which some people care more about than the previous issues. So people are talking of alternatives like non-grain based fuel like cellulosic ethanol, which is about converting grass, sugarcane bagasse and other agricultural residues into ethanol etc. It is all about biotechnology here and India has to invest in this research.
Second, coming to the Indian scene, I would like to say I am a little troubled by the fact that Jatropha seems to be the only source that people, business and policy makers talk about. The very reason for switching away from petroleum to biofuel is the diverse sources that we could produce it from. Even for biodiesel we have Pongamia, Castor, Neem. I am not proposing Soy or Palm because these are edible oils which sell at Rs.60 per kg and no one would want to sell it as fuel @ Rs.35/lit not to mention the kind of land and other inputs we need for growing them. Atleast we are looking at wastelands and not agricultural lands.
In conclusion,
1. I am NOT OPTIMISTIC about sugarcane-ethanol and palm or soy-biodiesel in the long run
2. I strongly favour diversification away from Jatropha into Pongamia, Castor, Neem and also oppose monocropping. Especially Pongamia seems to offer higher benefits in all aspects expect for the 1 or 2 additional years of waiting for maturation.
3. Above all, we need to talk about conservation and fuel efficiency as the least-cost best-fit option for fuel shortage problems. We cannot just look at increasing supply like the US.
I will be glad to hear your comments
Sincerely
Deepak Rajagopal
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