Tattva

Electricity does not touch the small/marginal and medium-sized landholder, as the cultivation is deprived of an assured irrigation source. Thus, those who are cultivating cash crops that require irrigated water have to perforce rely on the rainfall that is fickle at the best of times. A technology named ‘Anaerobic Digestion’ has immense potential for improving the quality of life in rural India.

India being a predominantly agrarian economy, science and technology can potentially be of great use for the uplifting of the farming community. In 2004, while reviewing the science and technology policy of the Government of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said: “In a world where the powers are determined by the share of the world’s knowledge, reflected by patents, papers and so on…it is important for India to put all her acts together to become a continuous innovator and creator of science and technology intensive products.” The importance of scientific and technological advancement in today’s highly globalised environment cannot be overstated.

“Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” was the slogan of Lal Bahadur Shastri. This slogan of a visionary prime minister has lost its potential over time. After independence, according to Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Gram-Swaraj, villages and especially farmers were to be the main focus of any development plan of India. This over the time caused severe distress among the farmers, leading to the recent dramatic rise in the number of suicides among the farmer community. Electricity does not touch the small/marginal and medium-sized landholder, as the cultivation is deprived of an assured irrigation source. Thus, those who are cultivating cash crops that require irrigated water have to perforce rely on the rainfall that is fickle at the best of times. A technology named ‘Anaerobic Digestion’ has immense potential for improving the quality of life in rural India. Anaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen-producing methane and carbon dioxide rich biogas, helping replace fossil fuels. Anaerobic digestion is a simple process that can greatly reduce the amount of organic waste, producing energy at the same time.

Anaerobic digestion facilities have been recognized by the United Nations Development Programme as one of the most useful decentralized sources of energy supply, as they are less capital intensive than large power plants. NASA is also planning to use this technology for its future lunar mission to generate energy on the moon surface. As a graduate research assistant at the University of Florida, I have designed such anaerobic digesters for NASA for their future lunar mission. The same technology NASA is planning to use for their space missions, I feel, can be of great potential use for farmers in India. Every farming season, farmers generate a lot of biomass from their farming activities, which is generally dumped as it is or used as a cattle feed. The same biomass, if processed through the anaerobic digestion facility, will not only produce the electricity but also reduce the pollution, waste disposal, and provide fertilizer at the same time.

Biogas is used to run a gas engine to produce electrical power. Some waste heat from the engine is then used to heat the digester. In the United Kingdom, there are about 80 MW total of such generation, with potential to increase to 150 MW. The scope for biogas generation from non-sewage waste biological matter – energy crops, food waste, abattoir waste, etc. is much higher — estimated to be capable of about 3,000 MW. Farm biogas plants using animal waste and energy crops are expected to contribute to reducing CO2 emissions and strengthen the grid while providing farmers with additional revenues in UK.

Biogas technology is a very old technology in India, but no one has implemented it in an engineered way. I

feel the top officials in the Indian government should take initiative to develop such policies in the benefit of farmers. So, here is in any particular cropping season. There should be one the is the plan. Generally a district has a 2-3 varieties of crop production in any particular cropping season. These should be one common anaerobic digestion facility under direct supervision of district collector for each type of crop waste. The energy will be equally distributed among the farmers producing particular crop type. The energy should be exclusively used for the farming operations only eg. Irrigation. The fertilizers will be distributed in proportion of the biomass waste supplied by a particular farmer. It has lot of employment potential. The skills available in the local community and tribal population should be tapped through a current scheme of Indian government called ‘Mass Employment Generation through Science and Technology.’ Some countries offer incentives in the form of e.g. Feed-in Tariffs for feeding electricity onto the power grid in order to subsidize green energy production. This is the time; India should take such critical decisions.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government has avowed goals to reduce poverty and stimulate development. They have acknowledged the importance of investing in science and technology by announcing a doubling of related spending in terms of GDP percentage over the next couple of years. Parliament’s approval of a National Science and Engineering Research Board, responsible for funding and furthering scientific research, is a laudable step in the right direction. This technology may demonstrate the successful application of science in the service of small farmers and toward rural upliftment. India has experienced the Green Revolution and the White Revolution; now it’s the time for the Bioenergy Revolution!

Abhishek Dhoble is a graduate student at the University of Florida at Gainesville studying Biological Engineering. He is a Graduate Research Assistant at the university’s Bioprocess Lab where he is designing a Waste Management system for a future NASA lunar mission.

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