'Smart biofuel crops ensure energy, environmental security'

Hyderabad, Feb 15 (UNI) ICRISAT Director General William Dar today said the smart biofuel crops, developed, utilised and promoted by ICRISAT, ensure energy and environmental security.

In a statement here, he said the time had come to ensure that only smart biuofuel crops were developed and utilised so that they could link the poor farmers of the drylands to the biofuel market, without compromising on their food security or causing environmental damage.

''Smart biofuel crops are those that ensure food security, contribute to energy security, provide environmental sustainability, tolerate the impacts of climate change on shortage of water and high temperatures, and increase livelihood options,'' he said.

Through its BioPower strategy, ICRISAT was developing and promoting sweet sorghum as a major feedstock for bio-ethanol. Sweet sorghum was a carbondioxide-neutral crop, a big contributory factor of being called a smart crop.

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