Is Gadkariji having second thoughts ?
Context :
How Ethanol could be a solution to Sugarcane Farmers’ woes / Business Line / 27 April 2022
Extract :
Ø Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari set the alarm bells ringing recently when he said that sugarcane farmers will be left with no other option than to commit suicide if the sugar industry fails to divert sugarcane for ethanol production. The words may sound shocking, but diversion of sugarcane in to ethanol production could be a win-win for both farmers as well as for the energy security of the country.
Ø “ The sugar industry will collapse if the same amount of sugarcane and sugar is produced next year “. Gadkari warned
Ø Diversion of Sugar to Ethanol
| 2019 - 20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23(E ) |
Ethanol procured / targeted ( in crore litre ) | 173 | 296 | 440 | 550 |
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All India average blending ( in % ) | 5 | 8.1 | 10 | 12 |
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Sugar equivalent diverted ( in lakh tonnes ) | 8 | 21 | 34 | 50 |
MY TAKE :
Ø Without doubt, there seems to be “ Over-Production “ of sugarcane , depressing cane prices
Ø But prices can be kept remunerative if that “ Over-production “ is converted to Ethanol
Ø Blending petrol with ethanol also helps in reducing bad emissions and lowering air pollution
Ø But, sugarcane crop requires huge amount of water, mostly drawn as ground water
Ø This would lead to water shortage for other crops / industry use / drinking purpose
Ø With ground water levels going ever deeper, water famine is a near certainty !
What could / should be done ?
Ø Reduce intake of sugar in daily food intake ( through education and steep price rise )
Ø Reduce Petrol vehicles and quickly change-over to Electric Vehicles, thereby reducing petrol demand
Ø Reduce ethanol blending – thereby reducing ethanol production / sugarcane diversion
Of course, what I suggest :
Ø May seem impractical – even whimsical and certainly “ politically incorrect “
Ø In short-term, inflict miseries to sugarcane farmers ( can we find other ways to compensate them ? )
Ø Is certainly, a “ long term “ solution – and must be incorporated in our AGRI POLICY
I am no expert on farming / agriculture . I have based my above-stated suggestions as a follow-up to my following 5 YEAR old e-mail to the Cabinet Ministers :
Ø Not a straightforward Answer !.............................
Extract :
While it is true that a few countries have been experimenting with blending of bio-fuels with petrol , experts have raised serious concerns re its impact on a country’s eco-system
I reproduce below , a few such concerns listed in book “ CLEAN DISRUPTION “ by Tony Seba { pg 201-210 }: { https://www.youtube.com/
· It takes 13,676 gallons of water to produce a single gallon of biodiesel from soybeans
· It takes 1700 gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol .
Assuming a 30 gallon gasoline tank in a SUV, we calculate 51,000 gallons of water for the corn ethanol fill
up ( Prof David Pimentel of Cornell University )
· Each time someone fills up an SUV with corn Ethanol, he or she uses as much water as the average
American residential user consumes in 16 months !
· IBM’s “ Carbon Disclosure Project “ provides following data to generate 1 MWh of energy :
# Solar PV and wind use negligible amount of water : 0.1 litre or less than half a cup
# Biofuels use an astonishing 1.78 million times more water than Solar to generate the same amount
of energy !
· All the water for drinking , agricultural irrigation , power plants and factories that 2.5 billion people
in CHINA and INDIA
worth of energy in USA !
· According to WaterFootprint, 19,924 gallons of water are needed to produce ONE gallon of biodiesel
from jatropha
· Sugarcane , one of the biofuel industry’s “ success stories “ , converts just 0.38 percent of sunlight
into biomass . In the end, the solar-to-ethanol conversion ratio for sugarcane is just 0.13 percent ,
according to “Scientific American “
· The average Solar Panel is 123 TIMES more efficient in converting sunshine into usable energy
· Concentrating photovoltaic { CPV } can turn about 40percent of the sunshine into electricity, which makes
it THREE HUNDRED TIMES more efficient than sugarcane ethanol biofuel
· SOLAR IS ANYWHERE FROM 123 TO 550 TIMES MORE EFFICIENT THAN BIO-FUELS
· SOLAR CHP ( COMBINED HEAT AND POWER ) CAN CONVERT SUNSHINE 550 TIMES MORE EFFICIENTLY
THAN SUGARCANE CAN
Dear Shri Gadkariji :
Research by reputed scientific organizations all over the World , project a Water Stress situation of unprecedented proportions in India, within the next 10 years
Last year’s “ Water Wars “ of Latur ( Maharashtra ) will get replicated in many parts of our country , in next 20 weeks ! And every year thereafter !
Production of biofuel on the massive scale envisaged in the new policy, will only further push down the already deep water tables and accelerate the droughts / famines
IN LIGHT OF THE ARGUMENTS LISTED ABOVE , I REQUEST A RE-CONSIDERATION OF THE PROPOSED POLICY
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With regards,
Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 27 April 2022
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