TheBioenergySite Latest News
India: Waste Lands and Jatropha
INDIA - Faced with the squeeze between escalating food and oil prices, the Indian government has earmarked Jatropha oil as a sustainable feedstock for biofuels production. The oil can be processed into biodiesel to substitute for increasingly expensive petro-diesel.According to Carbon Positive, rising grain prices and the cost of fuel are major factors in India’s inflation rate rising to 11 per cent. But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has declared there will be no move increase production of biofuels using food crops, saying it would only worsen inflation at a time when there is already food-grain shortages.
However, Carbon Positive reports that the government’s national climate strategy about to be released will target a range of sustainable energy sources for development, including the cultivation of jatropha on waste land. Jatropha curcas is a shrub-like tree which produces fruit with a high oil content, suitable for processing into biodiesel. It can be grown on marginal land, creating the potential for large-scale cultivation without displacing food crop production.
“India possesses around 35 million hectares waste land that can be used for cultivation of such plants,” said India’s alternative energy minister Vilasrao Muttemwar.
TheBioenergySite News Desk
Latest Bioenergy Industry News
Schafer Leads US Delegation to Brazil Conference
USDA Invites Applications for Biorefinery Loans- Biofuels Not to Blame for Food Price Rises
CAP Health Check Will Help Farmers- Energy Diversification and Climate Change
Immediate Reform of UN Body Urged- Project Breaks Solar Efficiency Record
- Ethanol Agreement Between China and Brazil
Ethanol from Sugar for Angola- Biodiesel Plant Opens in Danville
