Jatropha cultivation can be a boon for farmers: Raman Singh

Nagpur, July 9 (UNI) Inaugurating a National seminar on 'Harnessing waste land into oil field', Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today said the use of Jatropha seeds for bio-diesel production could save foreign exchange upto Rs 30,000 crore annually and its cultivation would be a boon for farmers and unemployed youth in the country.

Considering the shortage of edible oils in the country, use of Sunflower, Soyabean and Mustard Oil for producing bio-diesel, would not be feasible. Instead oilseeds such as Jatropha, Karanja, Mahua, Neem and Oil palm can be used for the same. Jatropha could be substituted for High Speed Diesel (HSD) and also planted on 40 million hectares of wasteland spread across the country, added Singh.

In Chhattisgarh, a Jatropha plantation programme to sow 18,000 Jatropha plantation has been undertaken under the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS), involving farmers and unemployed youths. For the last 11 months, about 500 government vehicles were being run on the bio-diesel produced by the jatropha seeds, said Singh. ''In the next few years, we would not buy imported diesel,'' he added.

The seminar is being attended by various experts and farmers from different parts of the country. Dr Raman Singh also inaugurated the Information office of the Chhattisgarh Tourism Board in Nagpur.

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