Centre asked NE states to formulate bio-diesel policy

Aizawl,Dec 7 (UNI) Impressed with the growing popularity of jetropah among NE farmers, Ministry of Agriculture has asked NE states to adopt bio-diesel policy to tap the potential of the fuel.

State agriculture minister H Ramawi here said that so far, about 500 hectares of land, mostly degraded forest, has been covered with jetropah cultivation in Mizoram and the interest of jetropha is growing gradually.

Mizoram would be the first state in the NE region to implement a mega project in cultivating Jatropha plantations, across the state, for extracting huge quantity of bio-diesel under the guidence of National Oil Seeds and Vegetable Development (NOVOD) Board, Ministry of Agriculture.

We have already signed a 250-crore contract with Godrej company to promote cultivation and processing facilities of Jatropha Curcas under Mizoram Intodelhna Programme (MIP) (self-sufficiency) in the districts of Aizawl, Kolasib, Mamit and Lunglei in the first phase, he pointed out.

"Besides, government also chalked out a plan to extend jetropha cultivation in 2,60,000 hectares barren land and the potential of jatropha cultivation in 1.30 lakh hactres land, which would reduce about 10 per cent of disel annually'', he estimated.

Mr Ramawi added that it would save about Rs 325 crore annually as well as generate employment opportunity.

He pointed out that though jetropah is a common plant and considered wild and unusable till recently, scientific findings of its ability to produce an alternative fuel to diesel has made it, all of a sudden, a much sought after plant in the region.

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