99
sector is more than 15 million tons (bio-kerosene). Since seeds can be collected
and crushed, using hand-operated expellers, on a small scale in remote villages,
the use of nonedible oils for lighting was rapidly expanding and creating a shortage of supply to the biodiesel industry.
• Most of the edible oils used are stable and do not decompose much in storage.
Therefore these are preferred for the transesterification process. In contrast,
nonedible oils are not very stable and require significant pretreatment with additional cost, so these are less preferred by the oil-producing companies.
• The cottage washing soap industry can use vegetable oils with a high content of
free fatty acids. Since the prices of edible oils have doubled, many soap manufacturers in this unorganized sector are using nonedible oils since these are somewhat cheaper. This contributes to the supply shortage for biofuel producers.
8.3.3 Socioeconomic Impacts of Biofuels in India
When India’s biofuel policy was adopted, one of the major motivations was to support social development through rural empowerment and development. The policy
aimed to generate rural employment and achieve energy self-sufficiency and security in addition to environmental improvement. However, after a decade of efforts,
Indian biofuel policies have contributed little toward these objectives.
Regarding rural employment generation, biodiesel was expected to contribute
more than ethanol-based biofuels, using the National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (NREGA) program. Unfortunately, in most cases, the NREGA funds for biofuels were inadequate, either because money was allocated to competing government
programs running in parallel in the same location, or because of bureaucratic problems in getting the funds to the right place at the right time. For the Jatropha plantation program, NREGA supported several initial activities for the first couple of
years of the program but could not create enough interest among the farmers to
continue in the program until seeds were available. As a result, a majority of the
programs failed in the middle, and a large amount of money was wasted under this
scheme.
It has become clear that Jatropha and other nonedible oil seed plantations need
considerable regular agricultural care to cultivate it at an economic level of production, so the process is not cost-free. In addition, since Jatropha is a new crop, farmers also need new technical and economic knowledge to cultivate it effectively.
Over the last few years, all of the major Jatropha projects have produced significantly fewer seeds than planned, and quality has also been lower than expected. As
a result, India’s current oil extraction capacity of 600,000 t/day is running under
40% utilization, and plant operators are suffering large investment losses. The myth
of Jatropha and other plant-based nonedible oil seeds as miracle crops for biodiesel
has collided with reality in India. It is important to understand that these crops have
to be recognized as regular and standard agricultural crops just like others. They
incur production costs just like other crops, and they cannot be cultivated carelessly
8 Socioeconomic Impacts of Biofuels in East Asia
sector is more than 15 million tons (bio-kerosene). Since seeds can be collected
and crushed, using hand-operated expellers, on a small scale in remote villages,
the use of nonedible oils for lighting was rapidly expanding and creating a shortage of supply to the biodiesel industry.
• Most of the edible oils used are stable and do not decompose much in storage.
Therefore these are preferred for the transesterification process. In contrast,
nonedible oils are not very stable and require significant pretreatment with additional cost, so these are less preferred by the oil-producing companies.
• The cottage washing soap industry can use vegetable oils with a high content of
free fatty acids. Since the prices of edible oils have doubled, many soap manufacturers in this unorganized sector are using nonedible oils since these are somewhat cheaper. This contributes to the supply shortage for biofuel producers.
8.3.3 Socioeconomic Impacts of Biofuels in India
When India’s biofuel policy was adopted, one of the major motivations was to support social development through rural empowerment and development. The policy
aimed to generate rural employment and achieve energy self-sufficiency and security in addition to environmental improvement. However, after a decade of efforts,
Indian biofuel policies have contributed little toward these objectives.
Regarding rural employment generation, biodiesel was expected to contribute
more than ethanol-based biofuels, using the National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (NREGA) program. Unfortunately, in most cases, the NREGA funds for biofuels were inadequate, either because money was allocated to competing government
programs running in parallel in the same location, or because of bureaucratic problems in getting the funds to the right place at the right time. For the Jatropha plantation program, NREGA supported several initial activities for the first couple of
years of the program but could not create enough interest among the farmers to
continue in the program until seeds were available. As a result, a majority of the
programs failed in the middle, and a large amount of money was wasted under this
scheme.
It has become clear that Jatropha and other nonedible oil seed plantations need
considerable regular agricultural care to cultivate it at an economic level of production, so the process is not cost-free. In addition, since Jatropha is a new crop, farmers also need new technical and economic knowledge to cultivate it effectively.
Over the last few years, all of the major Jatropha projects have produced significantly fewer seeds than planned, and quality has also been lower than expected. As
a result, India’s current oil extraction capacity of 600,000 t/day is running under
40% utilization, and plant operators are suffering large investment losses. The myth
of Jatropha and other plant-based nonedible oil seeds as miracle crops for biodiesel
has collided with reality in India. It is important to understand that these crops have
to be recognized as regular and standard agricultural crops just like others. They
incur production costs just like other crops, and they cannot be cultivated carelessly
8 Socioeconomic Impacts of Biofuels in East Asia