IFAD Supports Biofuels Research Project Led by ICRISAT

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) of the United Nations announced a US $1.5 million funding for a three-year biofuels research project led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). The project will facilitate farmers and entrepreneurs to utilize crops like cassava, sweet sorghum and jatropha as biofuel sources. It will also involve the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and appropriate national agricultural centers.

The project aims to promote the use of sweet sorghum and cassava as source of ethanol in India, the Philippines, China, Mali, Vietnam and Colombia and jatropha as a source of biodiesel in India and Mali. Preliminary studies on the use of these crops as alternative biofuel stocks show promising results. In addition, it also intends to persuade small-scale farmers and landless poor to take advantage of the market demands for these crops. This in turn, may help them improve their livelihoods and rehabilitate degraded lands.

The project will include research on the improvement of target crop cultivars and seed systems, development of processing technologies, management of effluents and by-products and establishment of market linkages among biofuel producing countries.

For more information visit http://www.icrisat.org/Media/2007/media25.htm