Our Resources Can Provide The Solutions To Our Economic Problems

In these columns last fortnight (To end oil dependency, shift 100% to EV road transport; June 1), I urged that, within 10 years, all motor vehicles sold in India should only be EVs. The current consumption of 180 billion litres of diesel and petrol, if unchecked, will double in 20 years. If we switch over to 100% EVs in a decade, as diesel and petrol vehicles are phased out, we would be substituting potentially 300 million tonnes of crude oil per year, equivalent to $280 billion at current prices. This transition is an entirely pragmatic and achievable target. We can scale up production capacity of solar modules and cells to meet our needs. In order to scale up solar power generation and battery storage capacity, we may have to resort to a one-time import of components over the next 5-10 years. That import bill will still be a small fraction of our oil imports. We should accelerate this energy transition on a war footing.

There is another neglected area of energy transition. Our dependence on coal and oil is a unique and short-lived phase of human history. Eventually, we will run out of coal, oil, and gas. The future lies in applying nature's power of harnessing the Sun's energy through photosynthesis and converting biomass into fungible energy. Now humanity has the technology and the resources to harness the Sun's energy directly. Through solar power generation and storage batteries we are closer than ever to the dream of sustainable, permanent, and abundant renewable energy. And new technologies now give us an opportunity to rely on billions of years of natural evolution and fully convert biomass into usable energy efficiently.

Our agricultural cropland is about 170-180 million hectares (Mha), about 11% of the global cropland! We also have plenty of sunshine and temperatures conducive to crops round the year. Our monsoons give us plenty of rain, and soils are fertile. India produced only about 52 million tonnes (MMT) of food grains in 1950, and we depended heavily on imports. Now we have a surplus, with a record production of 358 MMT in 2024-25. At peak times, the FCI stores about 80 MMT in godowns, and right now we have 60 MMT in our granaries. Overproduction of cereals and reduced per capita consumption with diversification of consumption is leading to a glut in the market. The government is forced to procure food grains, often at above market prices in the form of MSP, and pump them into the public distribution system (PDS) or utilise them as costly feedstock for ethanol production. 40% of the food grains supplied in the PDS are sold in the market at a low price and are often recycled, selling it back to the FCI. Food subsidies are mounting, and, given the perverse incentive of the MSP, farmers are reluctant to switch over to other crops for which there is market demand. The real challenges of protein and mineral malnutrition and cooking oil shortages continue unaddressed.

When properly designed and executed, raising energy crops will address all problems at once—increasing income for farmers, reducing cereal production, boosting rural industrialisation, providing energy security, reducing oil and gas imports, and protecting the environment. Let us say we promote intensive cultivation of hybrid Super Napier grass in irrigated paddy lands, which are ideal. Farmers can produce about 160 tonnes (MT) of fresh Napier grass per acre per year, from which about 8 MT of compressed biogas (CBG), which is a substitute for the LPG, can be produced. In addition, bio-oil, biochar, and biofertiliser can be produced and sold.

Farmers can earn a net income of about Rs 80,000-100,000 per acre. The government does not have to spend any money; it only has to ensure an assured, stable price to farmers, say Rs 700-800/MT (fresh) or about Rs 3000/MT (dry). Entrepreneurs should be invited to set up CBG plants with assured raw material through contact farming. The government already has incentives for such plants, including capex subsidies and assured purchase of CBG; all we need are scale, a framework for contract farming and procurement, a guaranteed supply of raw material to the industry, and an assured price to farmers.

We produce rice in about 43 Mha of land in India. If one million hectares of land is redeployed for intensive cultivation of Napier grass and conversion into CBG in our tropical areas, about 20 million tonnes of CBG can be produced every year. India will no longer need to import LPG, and we will save about $16 billion at current prices. As land productivity is increased, we can raise energy crops in more areas while ensuring complete food security.

Similarly, India has 82 Mha of forest land. Energy plantations suitable to our conditions can be raised in forests, e.g., poplar, willow, eucalyptus, casuarina, gahar, mangium, river tamarind, etc. Typically, about 5 MT of biomass can be produced every year per acre of forest land. Now technologies (pyrolysis and enzymes) are available for full conversion of biomass into energy. If about 10% of forest land is earmarked for energy plantations, we can produce bioethanol, bio-oil, biochar, or valuable chemicals equivalent to about 25 MMT of imported oil, saving about $22 billion at current prices. Once we build the ecosystem, supply chain, and processing network for biofuels, we can also convert 140 MMT of unutilised agricultural residue into biofuels.

Our landmass, fertile soils, tropical climate, current technology, and economies of scale give us an extraordinary opportunity to free our economy from dependence on the import of hydrocarbons. Rarely does one major policy initiative have so many benefits to a society. We should seize the moment.

The author is the founder of Lok Satta movement and Foundation for Democratic Reforms. Email: drjploksatta@gmail.com / Twitter@jp_loksatta

Published on: Sunday, June 14, 2026, 09:09 PM IST