Commercial fuel farming still unfeasible

Having acknowleged the benefits of biofuels in the seventies, India
is yet to formulate a comprehensive policy to promote this non-
fossil fuel. As a result, UNCTAD estimates that India loses Rs
20,000 crore of foreign exchange annually due to a spiralling oil
import bill.

India’s biofuel progress has been like going one step forward and
two steps backward. In 2003, as a part of the Planning Commission’s
Biofuel Mission, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas made it
mandatory to sell five per cent ethanol-blended petrol in nine
states. Though the initiative started off well, two successive
sugarcane crop failures had put the initiative on the backburner.
But last year’s record cane production has pushed the ministry to
restore its target, with plans to double it by 2010.

Most of India’s ethanol is made from molasses, a byproduct of the
sugar industry. This is a less profitable process as compared to
Brazil’s, which produces ethanol directly from sugarcane feedstocks.
Though Indian sugar mills have shown interest in producing ethanol
from sugarcane, Dr P P Bhojvaid, senior fellow at The Energy and
Resources Institute, says like Brazil, the government should provide
financial assistance to these mills.

About 80 per cent vehicles in India run on diesel and its demand is
five times higher than petrol. The Biofuel Mission has set an
ambitious target to meet 20 per cent of the country’s diesel
requirements from biodiesel by 2012. And since the demand for edible
vegetable oil exceeds supply, the government has decided to use non-
edible oil seeds from plants like jatropha and pongamia for the
feedstock.

It is estimated that a 20 per cent biodiesel blend will require 110
lakh hectares of jatropha plantation. Since there are only 4 lakh
hectares under cultivation currently, the country’s ability to meet
its ambitious target is quite questionable. Satish Lele, Member of
FICCI core group on biofuels and author of Biodiesel from Jatropha,
says that since commercial production of biodiesel has not yet taken
off in the country, it will be difficult to produce biodiesel for 5
per cent blending with diesel now, let alone 20 per cent by the end
of 2012.

One of the main problems in initiating large-scale jatropha
cultivation is that of feasibility. For example, sugarcane
plantation, on an average, fetches the farmer Rs 70,000 per
hectare. In comparison, a jatropha farmer gets up to Rs 15,000 per
hectare.

Farmers are further discouraged by the absence of support prices or
long-term purchase contracts. Joseph B Gonsalves, biofuel consultant
with UNCTAD says that the Centre needs to sponsor confidence-
building measures, establish a minimum support price for jatropha
oilseeds, and assure timely payments to farmers. Public-private
partnership can help set up infrastructure for seed collection, oil
extraction, and blending.

The national programme on biodiesel is based on the availability of
wastelands for producing jatropha. Since wasteland use and
development comes under six different ministries and a plethora of
laws, the Planning Commission had suggested a comprehensive biofuel
policy to cut the red tape.

The commercial viability of biofuels will depend on future oil
prices and technological breakthroughs. To boost the share of fuel
mix and achieve maximum yield, the policy needs to encompass the
entire economic chain right from research and farming to production
and marketing.

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[Comments: It is well established fact since starting of Jatropha
promotion that its cultivation is not feasible. That is why
through 'Say No To Jatropha' campaign we are regularly awaring not
only Indian farmers but also farmers around the world to keep
distance with this poisonous Jatropha as the promotion is only hype.
Now facts are coming in surface. Thanks to media for writing on this
aspect also. Now the big question is that what about the farmers who
have planted this crop after false assurance of planners and our
leaders. Who will compensate them? I feel that fine must be taken
from Jatropha promoters to compensate the loss done to farmers. And
also further promotion must be stopped.]