India's biofuels industry under scrutiny - 11 Jun 08

[eastern2western]

I am not an expert on this, but I believe putting a poinsous plant next to food may cause cross contaminations through bee polination.

[MrDANIELDMARTINRIOS]

karanj(pongamia) is even better since it is higher yielding ,longer living and a legume that fixs nitrogen to the soil

[bestantonio]

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUTH TO GIVE BACK THE BICYCLE TO THE CINESE PEOPLE?

[tinkusoccer]

This Video coming from Aljazeera is'nt surprising... they want India to depend on Middle-east for Crude Oil forever!

[lunafringe10]

India is prisoner to its fertility as well,

[lunafringe10]

nice brainwash recital by a 12 year old kid, maybe Israel can harness the Sahara. Taking water from the Jordan. or maybe we can start taking it to mars, or maybe, we can just call god to give us all the oil we need,

[littlepakistan]

can this plant grow in desert area like rajastan?

[littlepakistan]

we must encourage such incentives.Our farmers must exchange with westerners farmers in order to rationalize our agriculture.

Israel is a very strong ntaion in the agriculture field.

[lpercenter]

Western agriculture is cmpletely counter productive. Natural farming is the original form of agriculture and is known as "Do Nothing" farming. Believe me this book by a Japanese guy opened my eyes completely. You can never achieve the yields that natural farming achieves naturally. Plus you have much less back breaking work. If you want to know the name of the book just ask.

[littlepakistan]

we have to nourish more than 1 billion people.

storage facilities,new breeds,waster conservation...

[sombromantic]

Yeah I'm curious about that book now. =)

[lpercenter]

The Natural Way of Farming

The Theory & Practice

of Green Philosophy

Masanobu Fukuoka

[sombromantic]

Thanks I'll check it out!

[PoliticalSense]

Not more than 5% land should be allowed to grow bio fuel plant.

[danianjan]

Why only on the edges of field? Why not also during the months between the two or three crops that most farmers grow? And the remainder of the plant can be used for local biogas production.

[TreyNitrotoluene]

Every farmer plants rows of trees around their fields. It holds topsoil against erosion, provides a lil hunting space and provides wind breaks against storm winds leveling your fields when your crops are young. That activist lady doesnt have a clue what a farm looks like! She needs to go to Missouri, Iowa or Kansas for a little more education.

[dbca999]

Did you notice, to crush the Jatropha seed they use the machinery that runs on electricity produced from coal probably? And this oil is used to boost the fuel efficiency. There is Energy input for crushing the seed to oil which I hope is not the SAME as the energy you get out of the Jatropha Oil. Right now it may be workingout because farmers get subsidised electricity.

[HaloedG]

This is a good idea. I think the critics are only fearful that the poor farmers in India will become independently wealthy with their biofuel.

[EsotericDesi]

India's farmers will become dependents on this cash crop..! It's unsustainable for India, and the world community for long..! Ethanol is not the real solution to our fuel crisis... We need to be developing alternatives that get us off any type of fuel that make us more dependent that independent.

[TimberGeek]

They said a poisonous weed, I guess that means you can't eat the seedcake once the oil is removed. I think I'd prefer Hemp, a good rotation crop that produces a wide range of products. Biodiesel, edible seedcake, hurds and cellulose (pulp) for particle board, plastics, ethanol, paper etc and of course there's the fiber.

[geoffreyphilip]

I dont know where they got those student, but they sure look like nerds!! Yeah i studied in india too.

[Skorz3ny]

Ureka ... its population you fools

[breaks0]

Eureka.

[EsotericDesi]

Biofuel w/ Corn is a hoax... It doesn't really cut carbon in atmosphere... We need to invent REAL ALTERNATIVES to fuel... not another kind of FUEL.

[HaloedG]

Biofuel with corn is ethanol, a highly combustible byproduct. It only makes the rich corn farmers in the US, richer. Comeplete and utter half ass knowledge bullshit...which the US is famous for.

[EsotericDesi]

Asshole, what part of my argument did you not understand but others did? Who lacks knowledge? You or I?

[HaloedG]

What the hell are you even talking about? I was making a point about America's farming industry in relation to biofuel. Keep talking your trash...we both know you would never have the balls to say that stuff and even if you did in person, I would snuff you.

[ruxblue]

:Rich Corn Farmers:

???

Yeah we're rich. You are a pointless fuck-nut

[HaloedG]

Obviously not all...go pose as a scarecrow.

[dswynne]

I think thqt this is a godd thing, since it would end farm subsidies. And if plants that humans cannot consume is used to make bio-fuels (instead of using corn, wheat and soy), then the price of foods should be stabilize. But if you want to blame people, blame the investors who are pushing the price of corn, soy and wheat B/C of the conversion to bio-fuels. The key is management and organization. And maybe, the family farm can come back to the fore...

[stlmxc]

"i have an erroneous, unsubstantiated opinion based on a very tenuous and loose understanding of the facts."

do you realize how many of you are saying this? growing a crop to supplement energy needs isn't going to send us on a massive spiral into food shortage. wait, you're right. we should force the tractors, combines, and all the other farm equipment to run on diesel, the way God intended.

stop being the naysayer that tries to kill everyone's buzz with a fringe defeatist point of view.

[Organjic]

Sounds like the US is going to see a hunger wave.

[TokyoPlumber]

I doubt very much that crops like this will ever yield enough biodiesel to significantly reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Biofuels made from algae seem more promising, but are probably decades away. Having said this, however, growing and harvesting this jatropha on land not suitable for food crops seems like a winning proposition: more money for the farmers and a little less dependence on foreign oil. In the quest to come up with good alternatives to fossil fuels every bit helps!

[BenjaminFranklin2u]

Couldn't have said it better myself. =)

[PauloGVieira]

Yes save the planet but kill its people through hunger. Not very intelligent for a country like India.

[BenjaminFranklin2u]

Clearly you didn't watch the video. The weed can grow on soil otherwise useless to grow food on, and doesn't need the care other crops would require.

[geoffreyphilip]

whenever you comment, u get like 6 thumbs down. not many people like u.

[hajqbvii]

This farmer has a good idea. Growing his food and using the outer borders of his fields to grow the nuts.... we have hedgeball trees bordering our lands...umm...?

[Renegen1]

an indian saying it's too hot, lol!

[cycimian]

Brilliant people.