Coffee grower exploring right biofuel plants

Honge, castor selected for intercropping with coffee.

VayuGrid Renewable Energy Technologies, a company floated by a group of US-based technocrats, is exploring the possibility of growing trees suitable for biofuels in the plantation districts in Western Ghats. For this project, some coffee growers from Mudigere in Chikmagalur district have come forward by offering their land for trials.

The company has roped in Udipi Srinivasa, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and credited for exploring alternative and low cost technologies which have high relevance to rural areas. Srinivasa is to guide and hand hold the coffee growers.

“The company is looking at intercropping with coffee and has selected plants like honge (Scientific name: Pongamia pinnata) and castor, which have high oil content,” said Udipi Srinivasa.

“Honge takes three years to yield seeds for commercial production where as Castor is a four month crop. Presently, a trial block is being prepared on a 10 acre coffee estate at Mudigere in Chikmagalur and nursery is being raised,” he added.

Biofuels also have many advantages in plantation districts for it is cheap and renewable. It also disperse profits, are safe to store, need nothing new to be invented to run diesel engines and have a long shelf life.

Varun Gurjer, coffee planter from Mudigere, Chikmagalur on whose land the experiment is on declined to reveal the investment in the project. But said, “Once the trial block is ready and functional only then we will be able to work on economics and return on investments.”

When this model is fully functional, it has potentially very large resource in the form of non-edible seeds.

VayuGrid Renewable Energy Technologies, on similar lines, has initiated a few projects in Maharashtra in semi-arid regions. “These seeds contain oil that can substitute diesel in power generating sets and irrigation pumpsets (which need no modification) and further contain starch and nutrients which have high value as mulch fertiliser,” said Udipi Srinivasa.

In normal semi-arid land with densities of over 100 trees per hectare (as a plantation), these trees yield 10 tonnes of seeds per hectare on maturing. Also 15-20 year old trees use the soil upto a depth of 10 metres (unlike agricultural crops which use only 150 mm of topsoil) both the survivability during dry periods and annual output per hectare are better than what could be obtained from many agricultural crops.

“Honge yields 2.5 tonnes of oil that has comparable value to diesel as fuel. The cake with multiple uses, is primarily a fertiliser,” said Udipi Srinivasa.