Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said the Ministry will come out with a policy for biofuel giving impetus for production of ethanol using sugarcane juice.
Mr. Gadkari said while sugar production had been abundant (60 lakh tonnes in storage), there was less demand for it. Global price for sugar was at ₹22 a kg and in such a situation sugarcane farmers would be in distress if they continue to grow it.
The government was finding alternative ways to utilise sugarcane and extracting ethanol was the best option to give good prices to farmers, Mr. Gadkari said. While a few vehicles running completely on ethanol have been launched in Maharashtra, tractor running completely on biofuel produced from biomass would soon be launched there. There is tremendous potential for using biofuel in Karnataka too where considerable quantity of sugarcane is being grown, he said.
