Farmers want govt support for producing ethanol from sugercane

Karur, May 25 (UNI) The Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association and sugarcane growers of Karur district have urged the Centre and State Governments to take steps to establish facilities for producing ethanol from sugar in the existing sugar plants of Tamil Nadu, so as to make sugarcane farming more viable.

In a statement here today, association president, Mahadanapuram V Rajaram said researches elsewhere have proved that producing ethanol from sugar has come in handy for the cane growers, especially in the US. When the prices of petroleum products were skyrocketing in the international market, production of ethanol by groups of cane growers would meet the domestic demand for fuel and also turn out to be remunerative for the farmers, he added.

He said a US-based firm, EUPL has come up with an ethanol converter from sugar and that would be economical and handy for the farmers to earn some additional money. The equipment would cost about Rs one lakh and the cost of manufacturing ethanol was one US dollar per gallon.

He wanted that the Centre and State governments should provide funding for the equipment to help up the cane growers UNI RV GKT LPB BD1030