Minister debunks claims on global warming

He was speaking at the launch of a Biofuel Information and Research Centre at the University of Agriculture Sciences (UAS) campus in Bangalore. While he unveiled information booklets on biofuel, he shared his doubts on how affordable the biofuel plants will be for farmers.

However, Y B Ramakrishna, Chairman of Biofuel Task Force, clarified that growing biofuel plants will only supplement agricultural practises. "The focus is on asking farmers to grow these plants in waste lands and near fences," he said. Currently, 10 species of plants are being promoted for this. There were plants to set up nearly eight to ten biofuel oil extraction units in different districts of the State this year, he said.

The Centre, set up at a cost of around Rs 5 lakh and being the first of its kind in the country, will act as a model to set up a biofuel unit in a community level. Besides displaying various equipment that are required to make oil from the biofuel plants, the Centre has also displayed the seeds of Neem, Hippe, Jatropha, Pongamia, etc, along with oil cakes, oil, biofuel and glycerine. Some of the machines exhibited at the Centre are oil seed decorticator (deshelling of seeds), oil extractor and biodiesel production unit.