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: Given the ballooning costs of importing crude oil, alternative sources like Jatropha make eminent sense as supplements. It’s not surprising that Reliance Industries has seized an opportunity to make a big-ticket entry into the bio-fuel segment.
Progress in India has been limited so far, though a serious effort, officials say, would cut India’s import dependence by as much as 10%. Jatropha is an indigenous oilseed tree, a perennial crop, has the same characteristics as diesel, and can be used neat or mixed with conventional diesel. To top it, this is a clean fuel option. Small Indian companies are already at it. Labland Biotech, for instance, has a long-term contract with the UK-based global firm, DI Oils, to supply one crore jatropha plants a year for the next 10 years, besides supplying 10,000-50,000 tonnes of jatropha crude oil annually over the next 15 years. Farmers in Karnataka and neighbouring states are being roped in through the contract farming route. And now Reliance Industries is reported to have earmarked 200 acres of land in Andhra Pradesh, which too will be scaled up depending on the progress of the project.
One concern raised in this context is that as demand for biofuels rise, exporting could become more attractive for developing countries, which may induce a skew in land use away from food crops. Fortunately for India, Jatropha curcas is a non-edible oil tree, unlike in the West, where biodiesel is derived from edible oilseeds. Moreover, Jatropha can thrive in wasteland, and offers the opportunity to reclaim much of it and lead to local economic development.
Planning Commission figures state that a 10 million hectare crop could yield 30 million tonnes of oil a year. Further, of the 130 million hectares of wasteland in India, about 33 million hectares are available for reclamation. The Railways, the largest diesel consumer in India, have reported much success with this option and are seeking substantive biodiesel supply contracts. The government, too, is in the process of mandating its blending with mineral diesel. A 5% blend is to be introduced shortly, with an implied demand for 2.5 million tonnes of biodiesel, and this is to rise to 20% by 2020, implying a demand of around 16 million tonne. Looking ahead, Jatropha appears to be one of the most promising feedstocks upon which the industry will be built.
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