JOIN USHowever, the bio-fuel sector is still in its infancy and hardly any research proposals are coming from the field. In this backdrop, the state Bio-fuel Task Force (BTF) has organised a two-day workshop on 'Research Opportunities in Bio-fuel' at University of Agricultural Science (UAS) from Thursday.
Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST) and UAS have also extended their support to the task force in this endeavour.
The workshop will identify and point out gaps in four areas - bio-fuel crops, processing and value addition, quality and standardisation and second general bio-fuel - where research is required. And, to facilitate this, the workshop will provide opportunities for aspiring researchers and institutes to come forward and link them with funding centres, said BTF chairman Y B Ramakrishna.
Three new centres
He said three new information and demonstration centres were opened last week in Bijapur, Gulbarga and Chamarajnagar, with one more to be unveiled at Chintamani later this week. The idea is to create such centres in every district. Ramakrishna urged the UAS vice chancellor to install a quality and testing facility in the university premises itself.
Karnataka State Pollution Control Board Chairman A S Sadashivaiah suggested that the BTF look at intensive cultivation of bio-fuel crops in village-forest community land.
“There are over 4000 such communities across the State having 3.5 lakh hectare of degraded forest land. The State should look at utilising this land through community participation,” he said. Innovative methods of recycling solid waste to generate energy was required, Sadashivaiah felt.