Pollution wreaks havoc, eyes on increasing sugarcane production

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The progress related to the use of ethanol in India seems to be ringing. On the one hand, the sugarcane farmers will be benefited by the increasing demand for ethanol, while on the other hand, the expenditure on imports will be reduced for the government. Environmentalists are also happy with this as the use of ethanol as fuel in vehicles will reduce pollution control.

Car showrooms will have to comply with the E20 guidelines from April this year. This means that whenever the ethanol content in petrol reaches 20 percent, vehicles will have to be prepared for technical changes. India will achieve the target of 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol by 2025 as per the National Policy on Bio-Fuels Time Table.

This year India has achieved the target of 10 per cent ethanol blending. It looks like India may soon achieve the target of 25 per cent. Presently India is the fifth largest producer of ethanol in the world. Only America, Brazil, European Union and China are ahead of India in this regard. Since ethanol corrodes rubber parts quickly, vehicle manufacturers must first cover these parts with protective coverings.

Andre Aranha Correa do Lago, Ambassador of Brazil to India, said, “In Brazil, we invited the world’s leading car manufacturers and solved the problem of vehicle damage. I think India will also be able to solve this problem in vehicles. Lago was speaking at the ‘Fuels of the Future’ event organized by Anant Center in New Delhi this month. Brazil has been meeting the target of 25 percent and above ethanol blending in petrol since 2015.

However, the question is also arising that to what extent India will be able to increase sugarcane production as this crop requires a lot of water. Water crisis is increasing in many parts of the country. Farmers in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra are cultivating sugarcane because the government pays them a fixed price.

The area under sugarcane crop has increased as compared to earlier due to Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane farmers and Minimum Support Price (MSP) for sugar mills despite delay in payment and tussle with government departments. According to government data, India has overtaken Brazil in sugar production in the current sugarcane season (2022-23). With this, India has become the second largest sugar exporting country in the world.

Avinash Verma, former director general of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), says, “With the assurance of a fair and remunerative price, sugar companies do not worry about the fluctuations in the cost of ethanol production. The government considers the fair and remunerative price as the cost of raw material in ethanol production. This means that the central and state governments will ensure that there is no risk to the production pattern. The objective of the Indian model is to control the price of ethanol.

This policy has worked so far. According to state-wise data, about 35 lakh tonnes of sugarcane is estimated to be used for sugarcane production during the sugarcane season 2021-22 (October-September). This figure is expected to increase to 6 million tonnes by 2025-26.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs is of the view that by setting aside this amount of sugarcane for ethanol, the problem of excessive sugarcane production will be solved and the problem of delay in payment to the farmers will also not remain. Apart from sugar, there will be a ready market for sugarcane and oil marketing companies will also buy ethanol. In view of this, the sugar mills, which are facing the problem of cash, will not make the farmers wait for long.

Plans are being prepared to give equal support price for maize and broken rice as well. Both of these can also be used in ethanol production. Verma said grain-based distilleries face the risk of price volatility. “Oil marketing companies are considering the lower cost price for maize and broken rice for fixing the price of ethanol,” he said. Verma said that the prices of maize are 25 percent higher in the market, so no effort has been made by the grain-based distilleries to produce ethanol from these two crops.

Stockpile of ethanol crops can be a big issue. Like crude oil, the production of sugarcane or maize depends on the season. However, the Brazilian ambassador said that this problem could also be solved if automakers adopted the flexi-fuel design. In flexi-fuel design, the car can use petrol and oil in any ratio.

Ethanol increases the amount of oxygen in the oil mixture. But after a point the car can use more oil. Vehicle companies indirectly say that the cost will increase in dealing with this problem. Maruti Suzuki a few days ago introduced the WagonR flexi fuel model which can run on 85 per cent ethanol blend. But this car will not be available for purchase in the market before 2025.

However, with the increase in demand for ethanol, its production will increase, but there is a lack of storage facilities for it. This is a challenge whose suitable solution has to be found by the countries of the world, especially the ethanol producing countries.

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