The firm says it is testing
inter-cropping of non-edible fuel crops, along with a diverse set of
food crops
Bangalore: The global food versus fuel debate will be rendered
irrelevant by its biofuel business model, claims Reliance Life Sciences
or RLS.
"Our model is unique in the sense that it reverses the whole argument
of fuel versus food, which the Western world is currently battling
with, (as it leads) to fuel with food, with the promotion of food
intercrops," says K.V. Subramaniam, CEO and president of RLS, part of
the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd or RIL group. The company
says it is currently testing intercropping of jatropha and pongamia
(non-edible fuel crops) along with a diverse set of food crops
including corn, mango, medicinal plants and vegetables in its research
and development farms at Gandhar in Baruch, Gujarat, and Nagothane in
Raigad, Maharashtra.
"It's good that big companies do intercropping and lead by example,"
says Pushpito K. Ghosh, director of Central Salt and Marine Chemicals
Research Institute in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. However, there's some concern
about jatropha's toxicity affecting food crops, though there is no
scientific evidence for this, he says. Ghosh's lab pioneered jatropha
research in India and is currently developing a "solid jatropha model'
with General Motors Corp.
The Reliance group may have scaled down its domestic petroleum retail
business but it is ensuring its biofuel reach continues. "The biofuels
initiative of Reliance has the larger objectives of contributing to
India's energy security and putting purchasing power in the hands of
millions of farmers in India," says Mukesh Ambani, chairman and
managing director of RIL in a statement.
On the seeds front, RLS says it is developing hybrid varieties of
biofuels that will double the yield under irrigated conditions, which
currently hovers around 10 tonnes a hectare. "We are not there yet but
will arrive in a year," says Subramaniam. The company believes its
existing tissue culture business will help its cause. Besides jatropha
and pongamia, RLS is also working on simarouba and jojoba plants.
At the farm level, RLS has alliances with farmers in Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, to build clusters of 100,000
acres feeding into 100,000-tonne biofuel extraction plants. To begin
with, it has signed agreements with 1,200 farmers with one- and
two-year-old jatropha plantation on 2,200 acres of wasteland in
Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh. The coordinator in the tripartite agreement
is GRAM Abhudaya Mandali, a local non-governmental organization.
"Reliance has agreed to buy back seeds at Rs5-6 a kg, which is the
prevailing price for seeds for commercial extraction," says N. Samson,
director of GRAM. At Kahmmam, says Samson, another NGO called Active
(Action for Collective Tribal Improvement and Vocational Education) is
signing up 5,000 acres in cultivation for RLS, which has set up a pilot
plant for biodiesel in Kakinada.
Elsewhere, others are following similar ambitions. Bharat Petroleum
Corp. Ltd, in equal equity partnership with biotechnology company
Nandan Biomatrix Ltd, and construction company Shapoorji Pallonji Co.
Ltd, set up Bharat Renewable Energy Ltd, or Brel, in June. Brel aims to
bring 1 million acres under jatropha acreage in Uttar Pradesh, creating
one million jobs and producing 1 million tonnes of biodiesel. "The
biggest challenge in this business is of scalability; even a 2.5% blend
(with fuel used in the country) will require huge cultivation," says
C.S. Jadhav, director, marketing at Nandan in Hyderabad. Brel is
working with the Uttar Pradesh panchayats, which are often the
custodians of wastelands, to identify farmers for Jatropha cultivation.
Since Brel involves the state government, its CEO, A.K. Bansal believes
this model is more sustainable than others as the government will fund
it under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. As even good
plantations take two-three years to yield seeds, the rubber will meet
the road when some of these programmes gain commercial scale and when
the biofuel policy, due to be announced by September, is in place.
Today, there's no clarity on either of the two key drivers price and
market. "There is no indicative market in India, be it flexi or fixed.
Whether it is 0.5% or 5%, let the blend be mandated by the government,"
says Suprotim Ganguly, deputy director, biofuels and energy efficiency,
Confederation of Indian Industry.
CII is lobbying the government for a price higher than the existing Rs
26.50/litre of biodiesel.
http://www.livemint.com/2008/07/20232412/Reliance8217s-new-biofuel-b.html
