New Delhi: India’s ambitious plan to cut fossil fuel use by promoting ethanol derived from rice, maize and sugar has been criticized by some experts, who have warned that the move will affect the world’s second most populous country. can undermine food security.
In June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration accelerated the country’s ethanol target by five years, seeking to double and double production. petrol Mixed with 20% sentiment by 2025. To help meet the target, the government is offering biofuel producers financial support and faster environmental clearance. As a result of this scheme food grains for the poor are being transferred to companies at subsidized rates.
Even as several developed countries debate limiting policy support for grain-based biofuels amid reports of food-price hikes and greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, India sees manifold benefits. Is. The government argues that the new target will help the world’s third-largest oil consumer save 300 billion rupees ($4 billion) annually by cutting crude imports, reducing carbon emissions and boosting farmers’ incomes.
But critics say it is a self-target for a country that has struggled for years to feed its poor. Though the Green Revolution helped boost agricultural produce and turn India into a net exporter of wheat and rice, it still ranks 94th with 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2020. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that approximately 209 million Indians, or about 15% of its population, were malnourished between 2018 and 2020. The coronavirus pandemic is also pushing more people into poverty, a setback for decades of progress.
“It will always be the poor who will be affected worse as a result of converting precious grains to alternative energy conversion,” said Shantu Shantaram, who helped formulate the country’s biotechnology regulations in the 1990s and now teaches agricultural biotech at the University of Maryland. ” East coast. “As it is, the state of food security in the country is uncertain.”
The report that maps the new ethanol blending target focused primarily on food-based feedstocks, the government says, is a “strategic necessity” in light of grain surpluses and widespread availability of technologies. Yet the blueprint is a departure from the 2018 National Policy on Biofuels, which prioritized grasses and algae; cellulosic material such as bagasse, farm and forestry residues; and, commodities like straw from rice, wheat and corn.
Stephanie Searle, fuel program director at the International Council on Clean Transportation, said, “India has a real opportunity to become a global leader in sustainable biofuels policy if it wants to refocus on waste-to-ethanol ethanol.” “This would bring both strong climate and air quality benefits, as these wastes are often incinerated, which contributes to haze.”
The new ethanol policy should ensure that it does not divert farmers to water-intensive crops and not create a water crisis in a country where its shortage is already severe, said a Center for Study of Science, Technology and Energy. Researcher Ramya Natarajan said. NITI, a think tank in Bengaluru. Rice and sugarcane, along with wheat, consume about 80% of India’s irrigation water.
“With our depleting groundwater resources, scarcity of arable land, erratic monsoons and declining crop yields due to climate change, food production should be prioritized over crops for fuel,” Natarajan said.
One ton of corn can typically produce about 350 liters of ethanol, while the same amount of rice can produce about 450 liters of spirit.
Even in America, the food versus fuel battle has been intermittent. Some say that the adoption of climate-friendly fuels from the domestic fossil-fuel industry has led to the use of corn and soy meal to raise chickens and pigs, making them more expensive. For example, demand for soy oil has pushed futures up nearly 80% over the past 12 months, while the fast-food industry has complained of overpaying for everyday items like mayonnaise.
These days many developed countries are paying more attention to electric vehicles to cut carbon emissions. The Biden administration’s infrastructure proposal set aside $174 billion in EVs, including subsidies, but relatively little for biofuels. India, which wants to promote EVs, should not focus on both policies at the same time as they are not complementary, said Kushankur Dey, president of the Center for Food and Agribusiness Management at the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow.
The push for ethanol poses no threat to India’s food security as the government has sufficient stock of food grains in the godowns of the Food Corporation of India, said Sudhanshu Pandey, top bureaucrat in the food ministry in New Delhi.
“The government’s long-term plan includes building enough capacity so that half of the 20% blending requirement can be met by cereals, mainly maize and the rest by sugarcane,” Pandey said.
According to the food ministry, the state’s stock as on September 1 stood at 21.8 million tonnes of rice, while its requirement was 13.54 million tonnes. Pandey said the blending scheme would benefit the farmers of maize and rice, while the issue of surplus would be addressed.
Some critics are concerned that foodgrains for the poor are being sold to distilleries at prices that states pay for their public distribution networks. Many ethanol producers are getting rice at Rs 2,000 per 100 kg (220 lb), compared to the estimated Rs 4,300 the Food Corporation of India pays to stock the grain.
Prabhu Pingali, Professor and Director of Applied Economics, Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture, said, “The competition between distilleries and the public distribution system for subsidized food grains can have adverse consequences for the rural poor and put them at risk of hunger. ” and nutrition at Cornell University.
In June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration accelerated the country’s ethanol target by five years, seeking to double and double production. petrol Mixed with 20% sentiment by 2025. To help meet the target, the government is offering biofuel producers financial support and faster environmental clearance. As a result of this scheme food grains for the poor are being transferred to companies at subsidized rates.
Even as several developed countries debate limiting policy support for grain-based biofuels amid reports of food-price hikes and greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, India sees manifold benefits. Is. The government argues that the new target will help the world’s third-largest oil consumer save 300 billion rupees ($4 billion) annually by cutting crude imports, reducing carbon emissions and boosting farmers’ incomes.
But critics say it is a self-target for a country that has struggled for years to feed its poor. Though the Green Revolution helped boost agricultural produce and turn India into a net exporter of wheat and rice, it still ranks 94th with 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2020. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that approximately 209 million Indians, or about 15% of its population, were malnourished between 2018 and 2020. The coronavirus pandemic is also pushing more people into poverty, a setback for decades of progress.
“It will always be the poor who will be affected worse as a result of converting precious grains to alternative energy conversion,” said Shantu Shantaram, who helped formulate the country’s biotechnology regulations in the 1990s and now teaches agricultural biotech at the University of Maryland. ” East coast. “As it is, the state of food security in the country is uncertain.”
The report that maps the new ethanol blending target focused primarily on food-based feedstocks, the government says, is a “strategic necessity” in light of grain surpluses and widespread availability of technologies. Yet the blueprint is a departure from the 2018 National Policy on Biofuels, which prioritized grasses and algae; cellulosic material such as bagasse, farm and forestry residues; and, commodities like straw from rice, wheat and corn.
Stephanie Searle, fuel program director at the International Council on Clean Transportation, said, “India has a real opportunity to become a global leader in sustainable biofuels policy if it wants to refocus on waste-to-ethanol ethanol.” “This would bring both strong climate and air quality benefits, as these wastes are often incinerated, which contributes to haze.”
The new ethanol policy should ensure that it does not divert farmers to water-intensive crops and not create a water crisis in a country where its shortage is already severe, said a Center for Study of Science, Technology and Energy. Researcher Ramya Natarajan said. NITI, a think tank in Bengaluru. Rice and sugarcane, along with wheat, consume about 80% of India’s irrigation water.
“With our depleting groundwater resources, scarcity of arable land, erratic monsoons and declining crop yields due to climate change, food production should be prioritized over crops for fuel,” Natarajan said.
One ton of corn can typically produce about 350 liters of ethanol, while the same amount of rice can produce about 450 liters of spirit.
Even in America, the food versus fuel battle has been intermittent. Some say that the adoption of climate-friendly fuels from the domestic fossil-fuel industry has led to the use of corn and soy meal to raise chickens and pigs, making them more expensive. For example, demand for soy oil has pushed futures up nearly 80% over the past 12 months, while the fast-food industry has complained of overpaying for everyday items like mayonnaise.
These days many developed countries are paying more attention to electric vehicles to cut carbon emissions. The Biden administration’s infrastructure proposal set aside $174 billion in EVs, including subsidies, but relatively little for biofuels. India, which wants to promote EVs, should not focus on both policies at the same time as they are not complementary, said Kushankur Dey, president of the Center for Food and Agribusiness Management at the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow.
The push for ethanol poses no threat to India’s food security as the government has sufficient stock of food grains in the godowns of the Food Corporation of India, said Sudhanshu Pandey, top bureaucrat in the food ministry in New Delhi.
“The government’s long-term plan includes building enough capacity so that half of the 20% blending requirement can be met by cereals, mainly maize and the rest by sugarcane,” Pandey said.
According to the food ministry, the state’s stock as on September 1 stood at 21.8 million tonnes of rice, while its requirement was 13.54 million tonnes. Pandey said the blending scheme would benefit the farmers of maize and rice, while the issue of surplus would be addressed.
Some critics are concerned that foodgrains for the poor are being sold to distilleries at prices that states pay for their public distribution networks. Many ethanol producers are getting rice at Rs 2,000 per 100 kg (220 lb), compared to the estimated Rs 4,300 the Food Corporation of India pays to stock the grain.
Prabhu Pingali, Professor and Director of Applied Economics, Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture, said, “The competition between distilleries and the public distribution system for subsidized food grains can have adverse consequences for the rural poor and put them at risk of hunger. ” and nutrition at Cornell University.
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