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The excessive rice crop in India this year, anticipated to be the biggest harvest in last five years, will be diverted to manufacture ethanol, which in turn will be used in the processing of sanitisers. The significant decision was taken at a high-level meeting of the National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC), held under the chairmanship of Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday.
According to government estimates, rice production in India is all set to be to the tune of 117 million-hectare tonnes for 2020-21, with an estimated yield of 4 tonne per hectare. The state of Telangana recently reported a paddy cultivation of almost four million acres during the ongoing season, translating into a yield of 10 million (one crore) tonnes, as per state authorities.
Th NBCC meeting held under Pradhan based its decision on the provisions of the National Policy of Biofuels, 2018, which states, “… that during an agriculture crop year when there is projected over supply of food grains as anticipated by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, the policy will allow conversion of these surplus quantities of food grains to ethanol, based on the approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC).”
“A meeting of NBCC was held today under the Chairmanship of the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, wherein it was approved that the surplus rice available with Food Corporation of India (FCI) may be converted to ethanol for utilization in making alcohol-based hand-sanitizers and in blending for Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme,” said the release.
The demand for sanitisers is all set to witness a spike in the coming days as the government aims to withdraw the lockdown restrictions in phases, which will create demand of masks and sanitisers among others.
As of April 20, India recorded 17,656 coronavirus infections, which included 559 deaths.
