Running on Empty – Entrepreneurs are investing the big bucks in bio-diesel, even the President has endorsed the fuel of the future. But where’s the policy that will help India ride the jatropha wave? – The Sunday Express, Mumbai, 1^st October, 2006 

For the longest time, jatropha has been on the fringes of the national consciousness, promising to take care of the nation’s fuel worries even as copy masters spun epithets like ‘wonder fuel’ and ‘green gold’. Now, with the first big investment firmly in place (see box, playing the field), biodiesel is threatening to turn into another sound – and – light show with no action.

The reason: The government has been slow to match the entrepreneurial enthusiasm on the green fuel extracted from jatropha curcus seeds. And with the long –overdue National Biodiesel Policy still to be formulated, these just aren’t enough jatropha seeds available in the country to get the private sector plants up and running.

This has led to a strange situation on the ground. On one hand, entrepreneurs are setting up transesterfication plants, which will convert jatropha seeds into oil that can be blended with diesel or used neat to run cars, trains and gensets. But in the absence of viable jatropha supplied and escalating crude oil prices, most entrepreneurs are now depending on other vegetable oil or waste oil to employ in their plants; some are even willing to import expensive palm oil intended for biodiesel plants.

“We are three years late. By now we should have had full fledged plantations and jatropha seeds available in the market,” say S. Shukla, member of the National Biofuel Mission and chairman of the chhattisgarh biofuel Development Authority. Barring a few states working on individual initiative, however, there is no concern national plan despite the grand pronouncement on the wonder fuel.

None other than President A P J Abdul Kalam, one of the strongest votaries of biofuels, has publicity expressed his unhappiness at imported vegetable oils – rather than non –edible jatropha – being used in biodiesel blends. He was the first one to seek a comprehensive policy on biofuels, urging that 30 million hectares be used to grow 60 million tones of green fuel over five years.

Wonder Years

Several arguments were made for jatropha when the first committee on the development of biofuel, chaired by N. D. Tiwari, submitted its report in April 2003. One, it would reduce the massive crude oil import bill (Rs.19, 000crore every year), two, it would put India’s vast wasteland  (55 million hectares) into use. And three it would provide employment to millions of farmers but with plants running on imported vegetable oil instead of homegrown, low –maintenance jatropha , biodiesel is not turning out to be the wonder it was touted to be.

At the moment, most fuel plants are in their planning stage, with commercial production still a few months away. “The Plants will come up. And, in the absence of jatropha seeds, there will surely be leakage from the edible oil sector,” warns Alok Adholyaya, Director of biotechnology, The Energy Resources institute (TERI). “This can only be a stop gap arrangement. India not only has to grow jatropha but has to diversify its feedstock into Sunflower, Mahua, Neem and rice bran to ride the biofuel wave,” he adds.

That the policy is vital to this end goes without saying. Besides signifying the government ‘s serious ness on biofuel plans already announced , it will lay down the sales tax, excise duty and VAT and make the industry a ‘thrust area’, thus ensuring fast tract clearances for the plants. With these configurations in place, it can accept some response to its purchase policy of Rs.25/kg of jatropha seeds, which has been a flop so far.

The policy will also decide the proportion of money to be disbursed from the Rs1200-crore kitty cleared by planning Commission for plantation of jatropha sapling in waste lands and forests.

Without these vital statistics undecided, the high powered Biodiesel Mission is a body without brains. It has met twice and dissolved twice, saying it has to wait for the policy.

In the works

So where is this elusive policy? Right now, it is with the ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, which is drafting a cabinet note for circulation over the next few weeks. “It should be finalized within three months”, says S. N. Chopra, Special secretary at the ministry. “It is natural for a government process for a comprehensive policy to take this long. Comments of various concerned ministries have to be sough and incorporated before a Cabinet note can be prepared”.

Therefore, while big name politicians – including agriculture minister Shared Pawar and Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh –have made the right noises on biodiesel, only Rs.50 core has been spent on Jatropha plantation /nurseries last year.

Some state governments, meanwhile, have been more proactive in wanting to use their Wastelands. Chhattisgarh, for instance, has planted 80 million saplings of Jatropha, covering 20,000 hectares in the first phase. It has also finalized the basis under which private companies can plant Jatropha on government land.

Andhra Pradesh has set up an independent department to put 728,000 hectares of cultivable wasteland to productive use. The state government  roadmap sees oil majors like Indian Oil Corporation and Reliance industries bringing 4-5 million acres of land in seven or eight districts under Jatropha .

Tamil Nadu, too, has a project to produce 100 per cent bio-diesel from Jatropha. While D1-Mohan Bio Oils limited plans to bring one lakh hectares under Jatropha cultivation in Tamil Nadu, Indian Overseas Bank has sighed a deal with the Coimbatore –based Classic Jatropha Oil (India) Ltd for promoting cultivation of Jatropha under contract farming.

For all the evident enthusiasm, however, there’s still a vital role that only the government can play. There are nearly 300 varieties of Jatropha in India and research needs be conducted to select the maximums – yield seeds.

There has been some research but not enough. TERI plans to demonstrate the economics of bio-fuels with its 8,000 hectares under Jatropha in Andhra Pradesh which will attain ‘seed-to-oil’ capacity in the next four years. The University of Hohenheim has been developing diesel blends in collaboration with the council for Scientific and Industries Research (CSIR), which have been tested on Mercedes Benz C-class cars. But it could only be a matter of time before it burn away.