Subscribe
With 40 per cent of its land under forest, and the reputation of being India's rice bowl, Chhattisgarh is a natural choice for promoting cultivation of plants of biodiesel value. But it takes more than good conditions to push such a major move: political will. Chief minister Raman Singh has backed the state's biodiesel programme, most prominently by running his car on biodiesel for the last few months. D N Tiwari, deputy chairperson of the state's planning board, was formerly a member of the Planning Commission of India, where he headed the committee on biofuels in 2002. The state is leading biodiesel production. The national mission is yet to kick off.
Funds and programmes of various ministries are being pooled for biodiesel. The government has issued a circular to departments involved, urging them to prioritise jatropha plantation. About 60-70 per cent of the land -- including broad strips along canals, roads and railways, owned by government departments and agencies -- will be under block plantations. The remaining will be in small patches: farms, field bunds and on fences.
Apart from giving tax benefits to industry, it is preparing to amend or repeal several laws, like those pertaining to land use and agricultural produce marketing committees (apmc). Tiwari says the aim is to minimise government intervention. Market forces, he stresses, need to be propelled into action.
"Chhattisgarh is seeking Rs 15,000 crore investment in cultivation of jatropha and setting up of oil expellers and transesterification plants," says Brijmohan Agarwal, the state's revenue minister. The state government clearly doesn't want to restrict its share of the biodiesel pie to selling jatropha seed; it wants the value-added product to be created in Chhattisgarh. For this, it is luring private investors not just with land for growing jatropha but also with promises of cheap land, subsidised water and electricity to set up plants. On September 3, 2005, the state government issued a notification entitled "Lease (Government Land for Jatropha/Karanj plantation and bio-diesel based processing unit) Rules, 2005". This allows a company to lease government 'wasteland' for the payment of Rs 100/ha. This increase gradually to Rs 1,000 per ha in the eighth year.
Last year, it got more than 70 proposals for allotment of 200,000 ha of government land for plantation. Shukla says the number is now up to 120. It includes big names like Emami, iffco and Kitply. Ten reputed biodiesel companies have offered to set up oil extraction units or buy the produce from farmers in Chhattisgarh. Companies like Indian Oil, Indian Railways and Hindustan Petroleum have each deposited Rs 10 lakh as security with the state government in anticipation of signing memoranda of understanding.
What's happening in Chhattisgarh today is seed collection for planting. There is a huge demand for the 'miracle seed' of Chhattisgarh. Jatropha is found in five regions: Bilaspur, Jagadalpur, Ambikapur, Raigarh and Raipur. "The variety from Pendra Road (in Bilaspur) has been identified as the elite variety," says Shukla. Sunil Puri, head biotechnology at the Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, says the oil content in the Pendra Road variety is highest at 48.2 per cent. In other parts of the country, the oil content of seeds is much lower, 29.7 per cent in Bhubaneshwar and 34 per cent in Dehradun. This demand for the Pendra Road variety is naturally high. Pendra Road comes under the Marwahi forest division of Bilaspur district. As livestock doesn't eat the plant, it has traditionally been used in fences here.
"The seeds are purchased from tribals in Marwahi forest division in Bilaspur," says Dhiren Sharma, additional principal chief conservator of forest. The demand for seed in the past year led to a mad rush; all kinds of seed found their way to the market. It is the poor families who sell the seeds in their attempt to make ends meet. Collectors sell seed to small-time traders in or around their villages. They in turn sell to the bigger traders in the vicinity or to the seth at the Pendra Road market. While seed collectors get about Rs 5 per kg, barely 50 km up the road in Pendra, traders fetch up to Rs 28 per kg. Sanjay Dubey runs a shop further down the road and trades in about one tonne of jatropha seed. "Last year people from Andhra Pradesh came looking for seeds and by the end of the season prices had gone up to Rs 15-16 a kg."
According to the divisional forest officer (dfo) at Pendra Road, the price has settled at Rs 8-10, but it is still early in the season to be sure. Traders say even the fd bought seeds last year at Rs 18/kg from traders. Down To Earth reporter found no one is willing to sell at the msp of Rs 4.50 announced to protect the seed collector and keep the price close to Rs 5/kg mark -- the amount it should cost to make the price of biodiesel competitive.
fd sourced about 12.5 tonnes of seed last year through some 34 mfp cooperative societies, who bought them from seed collectors in villagers. The societies started buying at Rs 8 and were offering Rs 16 by the end of the season. The targets were very high, and fd was rushed. The saplings have to be raised, land identified and they have to be planted before/during the monsoon season to take advantage of the rains. Anando Babu, senior forester at the mfp federation, says, "This year, we plan to use the existing system for collection of nationalised mfp like tendu and harra." These will be stored in godowns and sold to companies as raw material in the future.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal, a trader who deal in jatropha seed, says "We will sell to fd only if they improve their rates, otherwise we'll sell to someone else." Customers are many. Ashok Kumar Jain, one of the biggest traders in jatropha, says over 25 truckloads were bought from the Pendra Road market in 2004. Others mention 50 trucks. Each truck holds about 12 tonnes. fd bought 60 tonnes, which accounts for five trucks only. Where did the remaining go? The dfo says seeds from here are supplied all over the country and over 200 tonnes was sold on the open market last year.
It has emerged unequivocally that the winners in the jatropha seed trade are traders and private nursery owners. Some traders have even set up their own nurseries. People have started mentioning that the reason to choose jatropha and insisting on plantation instead of sourcing the wide variety of available seeds from different plants was precisely to create a market where a number of players make money, and not just a few.
Besides, the Pendra Road variety is known only for the higher oil content, not higher yields. Jatropha can be grown both from seeds and cuttings. In some places like Sadwani village on the Pendra Road-Bilaspur route, the village boys found a ready market -- Rs 25 for a 100 cuttings. They began lopping branches, virtually destroying a number of plants. The Marwahi dfo says cuttings grow fast but the yields are low. In fact, nobody is bothering about the yield right now; the government's declared the jatropha plant produces 3-5 kg of seed after the third year, going up to 7-8 kg in following years.
Sharma, being a forester, is cautious: "We tell people not to expect more than one kg per tree." The Marwahi dfo, who's seen the yield in the region, concurs. Villagers who have seen the plant for years quote the same figure. The agriculture university of Raipur has worked on jatropha for over a decade. Puri from the university dismisses claims that the plant will yield 3-4 kg: "In our plantations, we've noticed a lot of variability in yield." He says not much research went into the government effort to distribute seeds and set up plantations. "They are compromising on quality by not doing proper selection. What is being distributed is sourced from mixed, highly cross-pollinated plants. They're not genetically uniform. The chances of good production are about 10 per cent," Puri fears.
Puri also mentions the lack of research on pests and diseases: "Jatropha has grown more or less in the wild so far, not in monoculture plots, so the problem was limited. But in field plantations, more and more pests and diseases are developing, some of which we have not yet even identified" says Puri.
"Jatropha grows anywhere"
This is only partially true, and even the guard at the plantation on forestland in Kawardha knows it. The plants are healthy and about two metres tall where the soil is good here. But in some parts it is rocky, and rainwater and runoff from the nearby nullah accumulates in other places. The effect on plant growth is visible: the plants are less than half a metre tall. And this is a plantation that is well tended. Villagers were paid Rs 25 each per day to prepare the land, dig pits, transplant saplings and put in fertiliser and pesticides.
Productivity depends on many variables apart from genetic purity. "The land quality and management practises are critical in commercial production. While the plant grows anywhere, the yield required for commercial viability isn't assured on all types of land," Puri clarifies. "Intensive management is requisite in the first five to seven years. Even after that, for 35 years, management is needed," says Puri. On non-irrigated, degraded land productivity typically doesn't exceed 1-2 kg.
Obviously, the Chhattisgarh government has given the short shrift to homework and research and development (r&d). While it has shown commitment to the biodiesel sector, it hasn't shown the same intensity towards the rural people who are supposed to benefit from it. But the state can't be singled out here. The Union government is also lost in the woods on making biodiesel deliver economic growth all around.