Wood Energy in India

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October 1999 Vol. 14 No. 2

Regional Wood Energy DevelopmentProgramme in Asia (GCP/RAS/154/NET)

Contents

WWWWWood Enerood Enerood Enerood Enerood Energy in Indiagy in Indiagy in Indiagy in Indiagy in India

Fuelwood Issues for the Ninth Plan ............ 3

Agenda to Increase Forest and Tree Cover:

Implications for Woodfuel Supply .................... 4

Biomass Energy in India Programmes and

Policies ............................................................. 6

IREDA: Lending to the Biomass Energy

Sector .............................................................. 7

Trends in Renewable Energy Supply and Use 8

New Directions for Wood Energy Systems in

the 21st Century ............................................. 9

Social Costs and Benefits of the National

Programme on Improved Chulha ................. 10

Surveying Trees Outside the Forest ............ 11

Fuelwood Collection and Trade as a Survival

Strategy in Northwest Bengal ....................... 12

Wood Energy in Forestry Training ................ 14

Woodfuel in Bakeries in Bhopal .................... 15

Fuelwood Collection and Use and Mangrove

on the East Coast ......................................... 16

Status of Biomass Fuel Briquetting .............. 18

Plantation Crop Residues as an Energy

Source ........................................................... 19

Modern Applications of Wood Energy .......... 20

Womens Energy Needs and Problems in Rural

India ............................................................... 21

Policy, Institutions and Networking: Indias Role

in South Asia .................................................. 22

Wood Energy on the Web: India ................... 23

Issued by the


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page 2 Wood Energy News

Programme Focal Points

Colophon

Programme Information

The Regional Wood Energy Development Pro-gramme in Asia (RWEDP) aims to assist 16developing countries in establishing andstrengthening their capabilities to assess wood

energy situations, plan wood energy develop-ment strategies and implement wood energysupply and utilization programmes. The pro-gramme promotes the integration of wood en-ergy in the planning and implementation of na-tional energy and forestry programmes.

Wood Energy News

The programmes newsletter, Wood EnergyNewsaddresses a wide variety of wood en-ergy issues, such as woodfuel resources,woodfuel flows, wood energy planning andpolicies and wood energy technologies. Itspurpose is to share information on wood en-ergy with its subscribers. Suggestions, reac-tions or contributions are more than welcome,

and dont forget to share your own experi-ences.

Those wishing to obtain Wood Energy Newscan write to the RWEDP secretariat at:

Regional Wood Energy DevelopmentProgramme in Asia (GCP/RAS/154/NET)FAO Regional Office for Asia and the PacificMaliwan Mansion, Phra Atit RoadBangkok 10200, Thailand

Fax: +66-2-280 0760Phone: +66-2-280 2760E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.rwedp.org

Project Members

Dr W Hulscher Chief Technical AdviserAuke KoopmansWood Energy ConservationConrado Heruela Wood Energy PlanningTara Bhattarai Wood Energy ResourcesJoost Siteur APO/Wood Energy PlanningBert van der Plas APO/Information Systems

Publications

The designations employed and the presenta-tion of material in this publication do not implythe expression of any opinion whatsoever onthe part of the Food and Agriculture Organiza-tion of the United Nations concerning the legalstatus of any country, territory, city or area orof its authorities, or concerning the delimitationof its frontiers or boundaries.

The opinions expressed in this publication arethose of the authors alone and do not implyany opinion whatsoever on the par t of the FAO.

Bangladesh:Chief Conservator of Forests, Forest Dept;Industry and Energy Division, Ministry ofPlanning

Bhutan: Director, Dept of Power; Joint Secretary,Forestry Services Division, Ministry ofAgriculture

Cambodia: Chief, Community Forestry Division, Dept ofForests and Wildlife; Secretary of State,Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy

China: Deputy Director, Institute of Energy andEnvironmental Protection; Associate

Professor, Institute of ForestryIndia: Inspector-General of Forests; Secretary,

Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources

Indonesia: Director of Energy Development,Directorate General of Electricity andEnergy Development; Director ofAfforestation and Social Forestry

Lao PDR: Director-General, Dept of ForestryMalaysia: Director-General, Forest Research

Institute; Director-General, EconomicPlanning Unit, Prime Ministers Dept

Maldives: Director, Agricultural ServicesMyanmar: Director-General, Forest Dept; Director-

General, Energy Planning Dept

Nepal: Director-General, Forest Dept; ExecutiveSecretary, Water and Energy CommissionSecretariat

Pakistan: Inspector-General of Forests; DeputyChief, Energy Wing, Planning andDevelopment Division

Philippines: Secretary, Dept of Energy; Secretary,Dept of Environment and NaturalResources

Sri Lanka: Conservator of Forests, Forest Dept;Secretary, Ministry of Irrigation, Powerand Energy

Thailand: Director-General, Royal Forestry Dept;Director-General, Dept of Energy

Development and PromotionVietnam: Director, Forest Sciences Institute;

Deputy Director, Institute of Energy

EditorialEditorialEditorialEditorialEditorial

India is amongst the most advanced RWEDP member countries interms of wood energy development. The country avails of specializedministries, departments and other institutions addressing wood energy-related matters, and has articulated policies and strategies with regardto the supply and conservation of woodfuels. The Government hasincorporated woodfuel consumption data into national statistics and isimplementing powerful national programmes on wood energy, someintegrated into broader frameworks.

Furthermore, numerous NGOs are active in the field of wood energy,the private sector is well equipped to play its part, and a wealth ofstudies analyze and document major issues. Last but not least, Indiahas vast resources in terms of human capital, specialist knowledge,expertise and skills.

Promising efforts are currently being made in India to inventorize woodresources outside the forests, which may eventually settle speculationabout fuelwood gaps, and in educational programmes, subjects relatingto wood energy are being strengthened.

All of these elements will help India to fully realize the dual role ofwood energy as a legitimate peoples fuel and as an environmentallysustainable modern energy option.

This issue of Wood Energy Newsprovides a brief overview of themajor issues in India, complemented with interesting case studies andinspiring visions for the future. RWEDP requested eminent Indian

experts to cover these subjects within the limits of just one page;which was, of course, almost impossible to comply with. We are mostgrateful to the authors for accepting the challenge and for togetherbringing into being an enlightening and thorough overview of wood en-ergy issues in India.

Our sincere thanks also go to Pradeep Chaturvedi, a tireless advocateof renewable energy, who coordinated the preparation of this issue.

Cover: Forest in India


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Vol. 14 No. 2, October 1999 page 3

Fuelwood Issues for the Ninth Plan

Future DemandRecent surveys show that of total domes-tic fuel needs, 59.2 percent in rural areasand 35.5 percent in urban areas are beingmet from woodfuel. Three non-commercialenergy sources wood, animal dung andagricultural residues still meet 95 per-cent of fuel needs of rural areas. Use ofdung and agricultural waste is widespreadin agriculturally prosperous regions withfertile soils and controlled irrigation, suchas the Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh andnorthern Bihar, but wood continues to bethe main domestic fuel in less endowed

and poorer regions.

Patterns of energy use are changing in ur-ban areas, with greater use of LPG andkerosene. It is, however, unlikely thatfuelwood will be completely replaced, aspoorer sections of the community may con-tinue to lack the cash resources to pur-chase even minimal amounts of keroseneor LPG, or the appliances to make use ofthese fuels.

In rural areas, improvements in incomehave brought little change in the ratio of

bought to gathered fuelwood and dungcakes being used. Even with possible fur-ther improvement in the poverty situationduring the periods of the Ninth and Tenthnational five-year development plans(19972007), it is likely that many ruralpeople will still prefer to use their time andenergy to collect fuel for free rather thanpurchase it from the market.

Where purchase of fuelwood is rising, themain factor is extreme deterioration of thenatural environment (making non-com-mercial wood unavailable), rather than

household prosperity. The poor in areaswhere this has happened, instead ofswitching up the energy ladder to modernfuels, are moving down it to inferior fuelslike straw, leaves and twigs.

Agricultural residues are unlikely to replacewoodfuel to any significant degree, as onlyrich farmers produce them in sufficientquantities. Being a private resource, thepoor have little access to them, especiallyin the context of monetization of the ruraleconomy.

Lastly, supplies of LPG are not sufficient tomeet even urban demand, so LPG is not

Dr N C Saxena easily available to villagers. Kerosene isused in villages, but mainly for lighting. Itsuse as a cooking fuel is rare, and it is alsonot preferred in villages for heating. Since

firewood is obtained practically free of cost,there is no inducement for rural people toshift. Thus their dependence on fuelwoodis likely to continue during the Ninth Planperiod and beyond.

Price ChangesFuelwood prices in India increased fastbetween 1970 and 1985, but have sincestabilized. Figure 1 shows that the rise infuelwood prices during the period 198997 was slightly less than the rise in thewholesale price index (WPI).

In some regions where large amounts ofeucalyptus is produced on farms, surpluseucalyptus logs sold on the market havelarge potential as sources of fuelwood.Apart from that, the greatest potential forsupply of fuelwood at little opportunity costis from shrubs such as prosopis (Prosopisjuliflora) and lantana (Lantana camara) ondegraded lands. These are not favouredspecies because of the presence of thornsin the case of prosopis and low density inthe case of lantana. However, the lack ofcommercial interest means the poor have

greater access to these shrubs. In manysemi-arid regions, the natural spread ofprosopis provides the poor with excellentfuelwood for both consumption and saleat almost zero opportunity cost. However,these positive developments (which arenot connected with any government policy)

still do not help a large proportion of therural population for whom fuelwood isscarce.

Potential for ProductionThe main unmet demand for fuelwood isfrom rural consumers in areas with fewtrees on public land or forests who do nothave budget to purchase it. They will bene-fit if public lands are afforested. More treesplanted on private land will be of only mar-ginal benefit to them. Fuelwood gaps canthus be best met by planting trees on pub-lic lands which produce a lot of twigs andbranches which can be gathered, and notthrough commercial production on farm-lands. This has implication for technologi-

cal choice in afforestation programmes.

As regards the area of public land avail-able for this tree planting, while there areonly an estimated 12 million hectares ofvillage land, there is at least three timesthis area of degraded forest land. Henceforest land must play the greater role inmeeting fuelwood needs. There is plentyof sunshine and adequate rainfall in mostparts of the country, which means trees cangrow fairly fast. There are also sufficientfunds for the forestry sector forestry sec-tor funding during the Ninth Plan has in-

creased to more than Rs 100 billion, ascompared to Rs 40 billion during the EighthPlan.

Favorable environmental conditions andavailability of financial support are but-tressed by a change after 1988 in the policy

Figure 1: Comparison of Average Firewood Price and Wholesale

Price Index between 1989 and 1997

0

50

100

150

200

250

WPI FWP

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997

100.00110.26

119.93130.99 139.71

151.18 157.49

173.04

193.00

138.02

149.55

165.78178.52 179.66

193.18200.40

YEARS


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India has low forest cover which is underhigh pressure. With only around one per-cent of the worlds forests, India has tosustain nearly 16 percent of the worldshuman population and almost 15 percentof the worlds livestock. Effective manage-ment of forest resources is vital to pro-mote ecological stability and provide foodsecurity to the people.

India has 63.3 million hectares of forestland 19.27 percent of its total land area.According to estimates, some 80 percentof the countrys energy requirement is metfrom non-commercial energy sources, ofwhich firewood is a major component. Astudy has shown that the annual firewoodrequirement in India in 1996 was 201 mil-lion tonnes, whereas availability from for-ests on a sustainable basis was onlyaround 17 million tonnes. Similarly, totaltimber requirements in 1996 were 64 mil-

lion m3

(54 million m3

non-industrial and10 million m3 industrial), while sustain-able availability from forests was only 23million m3. It is estimated that by 2006,timber demand is likely to reach 82 mil-lion m3 while availability from forests willreach just 29 million m3. Unrecorded re-moval of timber, small wood and fuelwoodfrom forests is also sizeable.

RetrospectAround 27 million ha of land in India hasbeen put under afforestation programmesin the 50 years since the countrys inde-

pendence. The current afforestation rateis in the order of 1.2 million ha per year.With the pressures on forests due to un-controlled and unsustainable removalsand to grazing, only half of the 27 millionha is actually under standing plantation.Indias plantation programme received afillip in the 1970s and 80s under exter-nally-aided Social Forestry projects. How-ever, as some of these projects havecome to a close, the overall programmehas declined sharply; some small com-ponents still continue under central andstate schemes.

The National Forest PolicyThe National Forest Policy of 1988 stipu-lates that the country should have a mini-mum of 33 percent of total land area un-der forest or tree cover. It recognizes therequirements of local people for timber,firewood, fodder and other non-timber for-est produce as the first charge on the for-ests, while leaning heavily towards the

need for forest conservation on the broadprinciples of sustainability and peoplesparticipation. At 19.27 percent of total landarea, the present level of forest cover inthe country is far below the goal. Furtherenhancing the vegetation cover of thecountry is, therefore, crucial to humansurvival and sustainable development.

Land for PlantationEstimates place the recorded land areaof India at 304 million ha, of which about33 million ha of non-forest wasteland and31.8 million ha of open and scrub forests

Agenda to Increase Forest and Tree Cover Implications for Woodfuel Supply

C P Oberai (below 40 percent crown density), requireplanting. Thus it would be safe to set atarget of about 60 million hectares for plan-tation activity.

People-oriented ForestryTo achieve this target, specific strategieswill need to be adopted to address thedifferent categories of land needing to bebrought under forest or tree cover. Of total

degraded forest land, about 15.5 millionha has natural root stock available, whichmay regenerate given proper protectionand planting in the gaps. These are ide-ally suited for management under theJoint Forest Management system. An-other 9.5 million ha is partially degradedwith some natural rootstock, and anothersix million ha is highly degraded. Theselast two categories together constitute an-other 15.5 million ha, which requires care-ful treatment through technology-basedplantation of fuel, fodder and timber spe-cies with substantial investment and tech-

nological inputs.

The emphasis will be on:

Fuelwood and fodder plantations tomeet the requirements of rural and ur-ban populations.

Plantations of economically importantspecies (through use of high-yieldingclones) on refractory areas to meet thegrowing timber requirement.

Supplementing the incomes of the

framework governing the management offorest lands, which is now more condu-cive to sustained development ofwoodfuel resources than previous frame-works. According to the new policy, therequirements for fuelwood, fodder andsmall timber of the tribals and other vil-lagers living in and near the forests arenow to be treated as the first call on forestproduce. Equity of access and environ-mental considerations will be given moreimportance than mere earning of revenue.

Initiatives During the Ninth PlanSeveral policy initiatives have been takenin the forestry sector since the launch ofthe Ninth Plan. Firstly, a distinction hasbeen made between fuelwood from logsand fuelwood from twigs and branches.

The former, even if produced on publiclands, are out of the reach of the ruralpoor they are marketed, and at best helpthe urban poor. The rural poor have ac-cess to only twigs and branches, whichrequire labour-intensive collection.

Secondly, it is recognized that twigs andbranches as fuels are best made avail-able to the poor through shrubs andbushes, and through lops and tops fromlarge trees. It is also acknowledged thatthe objective of Community Forestry andJoint Forest Management (JFM) shouldbe on producing twigs and branches andother locally desired species through mi-cro-planning. This will also generate self-employment for the poor through the gath-ering of goods for consumption.

And a last initiative under the Ninth Planis greening of degraded forests. Some 15million hectares of marginally degradedforests where adequate root stock existscan be tackled through aided natural re-generation, gap filling and enrichmentplanting under the JFM program. On an-

other 15 million hectares devoid of rootstock and self-regenerative capacity,green cover should be provided throughshort-gestation grasses, shrubs andbushes. This will ensure bringing vegeta-tion cover on the completely barren landsin the quickest possible time, as well asproviding fuelwood to the needy.

Dr Saxena is Secretary of the PlanningCommission, Government of India


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Mr Oberai is Inspector General ofForests and Special Secretary, Ministry

of Environment and Forests

tribal and rural poor through man-agement and development of non-timber forest products.

Developing and promoting pastureon suitable degraded areas.

Promoting afforestation and devel-opment of degraded forests byadopting, through micro-planning,an integrated approach on a water-shed basis.

Suitable policy initiatives on ration-alization of tree felling and transitrules, assured buy-back arrange-ments between industries and treegrowers, technology extension, andincentives like easy availability ofinstitutional credit etc., which will en-courage people and institutions to

undertake large-scale tree farming.

Actions Envisaged1. A National Forestry Action Pro-

gramme (NFA) has just been drawnup and envisages afforesting 60 mil-lion ha of degraded lands over thenext 20 years. The present level ofinvestment in the forestry sector israther low, in the order of Rs10,000million (US$ 232 million). A quan-tum jump in financial allocation tothe forestry sector is needed to in-crease the present afforestation tar-

gets from 1.2 million ha/year to about3.0 million ha/year.

2. Focus in afforestation activities ongovernment forests will be on Joint

Forest Management. Each villagesituated in and around a forest areawill have a Forest DevelopmentAgency. This agency will receivefunds directly from various ministriesand other sources in order to under-take afforestation and other rural de-velopmental activities in a coordi-nated manner.

3. Institutional arrangements will bemade for facilitating support throughfinancial institutions to provide softloans to farmers, cooperatives, for-est development corporations andother organizations for rehabilitationof wastelands. The functioning of for-est corporations will be streamlinedto make them function as economi-cally viable commercial units and toassist local entrepreneurs and farm-

ers in preparation of technically vi-able afforestation proposals.

4. It is proposed that an Environmen-tal Protection Fund for afforestationbe created out of penalty paymentscollected from violations of environ-mental laws, cess imposed on pol-luting industries etc. An environmen-tal awareness campaign and partici-patory management wil l be de-signed to make people act as greenguards for forests and the environ-ment.

5. Environmental education will be in-troduced as a compulsory subject inthe curricula of schools and col-leges. Integration of wood energy

subjects will be sharply focused inthe curricula of training institutionsin forestry and agriculture sectors.

6. All efforts will be made to obtainfunds through externally aidedprojects under various bilateral and

multilateral arrangements.

Forestry in the New MilleniumTo sum up, tropical India, with its ad-equate sunlight, rainfall, land and la-bour, is ideally suitable for tree planta-tions. With the enhanced plan outlay forforestry sector and financial supportfrom donor agencies, the country willbe able to march ahead towards the tar-get of 33 percent forest cover. Technol-ogy transfer within and amongst coun-tries is an important issue, which meritsthe attention of the international com-

munity. The adoption of scientific prac-tices and modern technologies in for-estry, coupled with the active involve-ment of the people and voluntary or-ganizations, should go a long way inarresting the rate of forest degradationand will substantially augment greeningefforts. India aims to manage forests andnatural resources properly to fulfil theirsocial, economical and ecological roles.

Above left and right: regreening of degraded forest land in India


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Biomass holds considerable promise asa source of electricity in India. More than540 million tonnes of crop and plantationresidues are produced every year, a largeportion of which is either wasted or usedinefficiently. Conservative estimates indi-cate that about 16,000 MW of distributedpower could be generated from theseresidues, even with the present utiliza-tion pattern and using only surplusbiomass materials (estimated at about 150million tonnes).

Apart from providing much-needed relief

from power shortages, power projectsbased on biomass would also open upnew avenues for employment generationin our rural areas in collection, storageand handling of biomass materials.Each 5 MW biomass power project couldgenerate at least 100,000 man-days peryear of employment in rural areas.

In view of the great potential of biomass-based power generation, the Ministry ofNon-conventional Energy Sources(MNES) has launched a comprehensiveNational Programme promoting all three

possible routes for conversion of biomassto electricity: combustion only,cogeneration and gasification.

CogenerationBagasse-based cogeneration for surpluspower generation is of particular signifi-cance. It has been estimated that around3,500 MW of additional power could beproduced if all of the 430 sugar mills inour country switched over to modern tech-niques of optimum cogeneration. Opti-mum cogeneration, with its strong back-ward linkages, will automatically lead to

upgradation of sugar manufacturing proc-esses, thereby making sugar productionitself more remunerative. The power soproduced will not only be beneficial forthe sugar mills, but will also benefit thecane growers, as mills will be in a posi-tion to pay more for the cane.Cogeneration projects of 134 MW surpluspower capacity have been commissionedand another 195 MW of capacity is underimplementation.

Since a large number of sugar mills are inthe cooperative and public sectors anddo not have surplus capital for investment,an innovative joint venture model hasbeen developed involving a private-sec-

Biomass Energy in India Programmes and Policies

Ajit K Guptator joint venture partner, with a view totapping the surplus power potential avail-able. To improve the viability ofcogeneration projects, the use of alterna-

tive biomass materials, such as canetrash, is also being promoted under aproject of the Global Environment Facility(GEF) and the US Agency for Interna-tional Development. This will increase po-tential for off-season power generation. AProgramme Partnership Initiative involv-ing leading consultancy groups is help-ing to accelerate finalization and financ-ing of bagasse cogeneration projects.

Combustion and GasificationThe combustion-only route for biomass

conversion is also being actively pro-moted under the National Programme.Projects adding up to 37 MW capacityhave been set up and 34 MW capacity isunder implementation.

In the area of small-scale biomass gasifi-cation, significant technology develop-ment work has made India a world leaderin this area. Research and Development,testing and training activities are beingundertaken at the premier research insti-tutions and universities in the country. Lo-cal manufacturers and energy service

companies (ESCOs) have also devel-oped biomass gasifiers with potentialoutputs from a few kW up to 500 kW. Alarge number of installations for provid-ing power to small-scale industries andfor electrification of individual villages orgroups of villages have been undertaken.A total capacity of 31 MW has so far beeninstalled, mainly for stand-alone applica-tions.

A 5 x 100 kW biomass gasifier installa-tion on Gosaba Island in the Sunderbansarea of West Bengal is being success-

fully run on a commercial basis to pro-vide electricity to the inhabitants of theisland through a local grid. A 500 kW grid-interactive biomass gasifier, linked to anenergy plantation, has also been com-missioned recently under a demonstra-tion project.

Indigenously developed small biomassgasifiers have successfully undergonestringent testing abroad, and are now be-ing exported not only to developing coun-tries of Asia and Latin America, but alsoto Europe and the USA. Work is beinginitiated on advanced biomass gasifica-tion for development and application ofnew technologies such as biomass inte-

grated gasification-cum-gas turbine com-bined cycle technology. New programmeson biomass briquetting and power gen-eration linked to energy plantations on

waste lands are also being developed.

Other ProjectsA major UNDP/GEF project on biomasspower generation in India has been for-mulated which aims to remove the mainbarriers in the development of the biomasspower sector in India. The project will coverbagasse or other biomass-basedcogeneration projects, large biomasspower projects and small-scale gasifierengine-based power projects. The totalcost of the UNDP/GEF project is estimated

at US$ 60 million. Besides projects underthe technical assistance component,model investments projects equivalent toanother 40 MW of exportable surplus ca-pacity are proposed to be taken up underthe UNDP/GEF project.

There is a lack of authentic and preciseestimates of the surplus biomass avail-ability in India. This information could forma basis for long-term planning and policyin this area. To overcome this lacuna, aNational Biomass Resource AssessmentProgramme is being implemented at the

taluka level in different regions rich inbiomass resources. Studies are to be un-dertaken in 500 talukas, and have so farbeen completed in 169. The findings willbe augmented by additional inputs fromGIS, satellite imagery and computer mod-elling, and will lead to the preparation ofa biomass resource atlas for India.

Cooking energy constitutes about 85 per-cent of our rural energy demand and hastraditionally been met by biomass fuelssuch as firewood, agricultural residuesand animal wastes. Under the National

Programme on Improved Cookstoves,about 30 million cookstoves have so farbeen installed, which are helping to cutback and conserve fuelwood use. Energyplantations using appropriate fast-grow-ing tree species have also been estab-lished on marginal lands to providefuelwood for use in efficient cookstovesand biomass gasifiers.

An innovative project called SUTRA (Sus-tainable Transformation of Rural Areas)is being implemented in two panchayatsin Tumkur district of Karnataka. The objec-tive of SUTRA is development of self reli-ance in rural areas by adoption of tech-nologies for providing irrigation and


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electricity in the villages through use oflocally available biomass resources. Un-der the project,economically useful trees are also beinggrown. Electricity will be generated us-ing locally available resources such asnon-edible seed oil, biogas from seedstarch, green compostable grass, andproducer gas from dried agro-residuesand wood waste, along with supplemen-tary fuel to run the engines. The projectwill eventually become self-sustaining bycollecting charges for irrigation and otherenergy services.

Policy SupportThe spread of various renewable en-ergy technologies, including biomass

Mr Ajit Gupta is Adviser and Head of thePower Group, Ministry of Non-conven-tional Energy Sources

power, is being aided by a variety ofpolicy and support measures. The In-dian Renewable Energy DevelopmentAgency Ltd (IREDA) was established bythe MNES to finance renewable energyprojects. Soft loans, concessional ratesof import duty, exemption from otherduties and taxes, and accelerated de-preciation benefit to commercial usersare some of the fiscal and promotionalincentives available through IREDA. Toencourage power generation from re-newable energy, 15 states have an-nounced policies for commercial non-conventional energy-based powerprojects. Utilities are accordingly pro-viding remunerative power purchaseagreements (PPAs) and arrangements

for wheeling and banking, third partysale and buy-back of power from theseprojects.

In Indias Ninth Five Year DevelopmentPlan (19972002), added impetus isbeing given to commercialization and

development of entrepreneurship in allour programmes, and additional powergenerating capacity of 1,500 MW willbe created from renewables, including350 MW from biomass resources.

Affordable financing is one of the mostimportant factors inhibiting the use ofrenewable energy in industry, espe-cially at the small user level. The IndianRenewable Energy DevelopmentAgency, IREDA, was created in March1987 to promote and develop NRSE(new and renewable sources of energy)

technologies. One of the ways IREDAseeks to boost the momentum of the de-velopment and large-scale adoption ofNRSE technologies is through finance,providing an alternative to the conven-tional banking approach.

The IREDA ExperienceIREDAs institutional model is unique,even at the global level. IREDAs mis-sion is to be a pioneering, participant-friendly and competitive institution forfinancing and promoting self sustain-ing investment in energy generation

from renewable sources and energy ef-ficiency for sustainable development.A major role of IREDA is to provide re-newable energy users and producers

IREDA: Lending to the Biomass Energy Sector

Dr V Bakthavatsalam

Dr Bakthavatsalam is ManagingDirector of IREDA

with credit, initially on concessionaryterms but progressively approachingcommercial rates, as the technologygains wider acceptance. By financingnew ventures in renewable energy,IREDA helps create performance trackrecords for NRSE technologies, thusfacilitating their transition from noveltystatus to mainstream acceptance.

During its first 12 years of operationIREDA has pledged resources for 1,126renewable energy projects, to the tuneof over Rs 26 billion. In 19992000, andfor the rest of the Ninth Five Year Plan(19972002) IREDA will continue itsemphasis on biomass technologies.

The past decade has seen a wealth ofprogrammes, in India and elsewhere,on bimoass energy research, develop-ment, demonstration, extension, mar-ket development and commercializa-tion. A good deal of useful experience

has been gained and we are now in abetter position to evaluate with author-ity various biomass energy technolo-gies and their prospects for the future.

With the right policy environment andadequate institutional and financingmechanisms, IREDA believes biomassenergy technologies will find and oc-cupy their rightful market niche. Biomasstechnologies have the potential to be-

come an integral part of the energy sys-tems of India and of the rest of the de-veloping world. IREDA invites allconcernced to participate in this globalmovement for renewable energy.

IREDAs achievements in bioenergy applications

Assistance: Up to 80% ofproject cost and upto 90% of equip-ment cost

Interest: 015%Moratorium: Maximum three

yearsRepaymentperiod: Maximum 10 years

IREDAs General Financing Norms

Sector No. of Installed CapacityProjects

Biomass/Bagasse Cogeneration 19 252.00 MWBiomass Power Generation 6 40.75 MWBiogas 64 953,407 m3/dayBiomass Briquetting 31 1450.8 t/day


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India started nationally planned economic

development in 1952. Soon after, in195354, a comparison of trends in en-ergy supply and use was carried out. Onlya small base of commercial sources ofenergy existed when India gained free-dom. Since then, a large proportion of thepopulation has continued to depend onnon-commercial energy sources to meetits energy demands: in rural areas all en-ergy demands; in urban and semi-urbanareas at least a part of cooking energydemands. Non-commercial energy sup-ply in India consists mainly of fuelwood,agro-residues and dungcakes.

Trends in Energy SupplyFuelwood accounts for around 65 percentof total non-commercial energy use in thehousehold sector. In absolute terms, con-sumption of fuelwood was estimated at161.4 million tonnes in 199697. Com-bined consumption of dungcake and cropresidues over the same period was esti-mated at 88.6 million tonnes.

The Planning Commission has projected,on the basis of end-use analysis and in-come elasticities, that primary energy re-

quirement is likely to increase from 374million tonnes of oil equivalent (in 19967) to around 475500 mtoe in 200102,the end of the Ninth Plan. This representsan annual growth rate of 4.9 percent. Theshare of commercial energy in this total islikely to increase from 66 to 75 percent,while the share of non-commercial

sources falls from 34 to 25 percent. How-ever, in absolute terms, consumption ofnon-commercial energy will remain at al-most the same level as in 199697.

Government InitiativesIn 1992, the Government launched a two-pronged renewable energy initiative forimplementation during the Eighth Plan,consisting of:

i. Generation of grid-quality power from

wind energy, small hydro-power, bio-energy and solar energy.

ii. The Rural Energization Programme,promoted through stepping up of elec-trification of villages through stand-alone photovoltaic lighting systems

Pradeep Chaturvedi

Trends in Renewable Energy Supply and Use

and bio-mass gasifier power systems;supply of solar lantems to unelectrifiedhouseholds; use of solar water heat-ing systems; and rural energy pro-grammes such as the National Projecton Biogas Development; the NationalProgramme on Improved Cookstoves;and production of energy from indus-trial and agricultural waste.

This initiative helped the Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources (MNES) to

achieve results much better than the tar-get set for the period 199297. However,current utilization of renewables is stillconsidered to be far below potential.Therefore the Government proposed toundertake the following steps during theNinth Plan period (19972002):

i. Change the structure of the existingprogrammes so that they move awayfrom being subsidy-driven towardsgradual commercialization of non-commercial energy sources.

ii. Gradually phase out subsidies in so-cially oriented programmes likebiogas, improved high efficiencywoodstoves, biomass and solarphotovoltaics.

iii. Strengthen research and develop-ment into, and commercialization of,non-conventional energy sources.

Meeting Future Fuelwood DemandBy the end of Ninth Plan period, totalfuelwood demand is projected to be about

200 million tonnes. Of this, 102 milliontonnes is expected to come from forestsand 98 million tonnes from non-forest

Table1: Renewable Energy Potential, Achievement and Target

Source/System Potential Achievements Ninth Plan Targets

(up to 31/3/98) (19972002)Biogas Plants (nos) 12 million 2.67 million 1.26 millionImproved Woodstoves(nos) 120 million 26.29 million 19.6 millionBiomass Gasifier 17,000 MW 105 MW 22 MWSolar Photovoltaic 28 MW 2.5 MWSolar Water Heating Systems 30 m m2 (x) 436,000 m2 (xx) 250,000m2 (xx)Wind Power 20,000 MW 970 MW 1,200 MWSmall Hydropower 10,000 MW 151 MW 175 MWBiomass Power 1,700 MW 3.75 MW 300 MWPower from Municipal Waste 1,700 MW 3.75 MW 50 MW

(x) m m2 represents million square metres of solar panel collector area.

(xx) m2 represents square metres of solar panel collector area.

Source: Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002), Planning Commission, Government of India.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

PrimaryEnergySupply(mtoe)

1953-4 1960-1 1970-1 1980-1 1990-1 1996-7

Year

Non-commercial

Commercial

Figure 1: Changes in Pattern of Primary Energy Supply

Source: Ninth Five Year Plan


9/28


What will be the role of wood energy inIndia in the 21st century? Woodfuel metalmost 100 percent of energy demandin the 19th century; by the end of the

20th, that share has fallen to 22 per-cent. Will this decline simply continue,or does wood energy have a future inIndia? This paper looks at some factorsand recent developments which definefuture prospects for wood energy sup-ply.

The Next CenturyAs incomes increase and environmentalawareness gains ground, it is necessaryto review our objectives and measuresfor promoting wood energy systems. The

following factors need to be taken intoconsideration:

With rising income levels, people tendto prefer convenient and clean com-mercial fuels, such as kerosene, LPGand electr icity, when available.

Indoor air pollution due to woodfuelscan cause severe health impacts forwomen, children and senior citizensconfined to households.

Woodfuel supply is sometimes ob-

tained through highly unsustainablepractices. Too much time is consumedto gather it. If purchased in the mar-kets, it is usually not good value formoney.

Despite these factors, millions of poorpeople in India will continue to de-pend on wood energy for the first twodecades of the 21st century or evenlonger.

Efforts are being made globally to miti-gate greenhouse gas emissions re-

sulting from burning fossil fuels. Woodenergy can be carbon-neutral grow-

New Directions for Wood Energy Systems in the 21st Century

Prof. Parikh is Senior Professor at the

Indira Gandhi Institute of DevelopmentResearch, Mumbai

Prof. Jyoti K Parikh ing trees fix atmospheric carbonthrough photosynthesis and is there-fore considered to be climate friendly.

In light of these factors, what new direc-tions can we take regarding wood en-

ergy supply? Two roles wood energymight play in the future are: a) a fuelsource for the poor (through sustainablepractices); and b) a renewable energysupply at industrial scale, using a rangeof new, efficient applications.

Fuel for the PoorTraditionally, wood energy supply sys-tems are within the informal sector, whichmeans no efforts are made to plan fordevelopment, investment and manage-ment for sustainable supply. Its collec-

tion often adds to the burden of womenand can be at the cost of deforestation,soil erosion and loss of biodiversity.

Land regeneration programmes are sus-tainable only when they are environmen-tally sound, sustainable, socially accept-able, financially viable, economically fea-sible and participated in by the people.They can increase the productivity of de-graded common lands and boost the ruraleconomy, and as they are highly labourintensive, they can also help alleviate ru-ral poverty through employment. A combi-

nation of land management practices, in-cluding effective soil and water conserva-tion and tree and other plantation, can re-generate the degraded lands. However,appropriate financial commitments andnew and innovative institutional and legalmechanisms are necessary.

A Tree Growers Co-operative Society(TGCS) pilot project started as early as1986, and since then tree growers co-operatives have been formed in 389 vil-lages in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,Orissa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar

Pradesh. By the end of 19945, thesesocieties had planted trees on about

4,500 hectares of revenue wasteland(Parikh and Reddy, 1997).

However, use of woodfuel obtained in thisway can only be considered sustainableif the health impacts of pollution are

avoided through raising awareness, anduse, of appropriate stoves, ventilated kitch-ens and other cleaner technologies.

New ApplicationsThe second category of approaches forwood energy are those based on new ap-plications for power generation and otherindustrial, commercial and transportationpurposes. For example, wood-basedpower generation could sequester carbon.The Global Environment Facility has fundeda demonstration project in Brazil featuring

a 30 MW integrated gas turbine power plantrunning on wood chips from plantations. Itis suggested by Nakicenovic et al (1995)that this may be the major use of wood-based systems, if carbon sequestration hasto be carried out on a large scale.

In addition, it is also essential to developa comprehensive strategy for biomass thatincludes both wood and other biomassfuels. An integrated biomass strategy canconsider all aspects of the process, fromland-use through to end-use applications,so as to give cost-effective solutions which

respond to local needs and resources.

References

N Nakicenovic, Arnulf Grubler and AlanMcDonald (eds), Global Energy Perspectives,Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995

Jyoti Parikh and B Sudhakara Reddy (eds),Sustainable Regeneration of Degraded Landsthrough Peoples Participation, Tata McGrawHill Publishing Co Ltd, New Delhi, 1997

Mr Chaturvedi is Secretary General ofthe Indian Association for the Advance-ment of Science, Delhi

sources. The sustained yield of 18 milliontonnes per year from forests leaves a gapof 84 million tonnes per year. To cover thisdeficit, efforts are being made to growfuelwood plantations on degraded forestand wastelands. Filling the gap will re-quire plantations on at least 20 millionhectares of wasteland. Experimental re-sults show that such wastelands can be

planted at a cost of Rs 25,000 per hec-tare. If five million hectares yielding 20million tonnes of extra fuelwood per year is planted in the next Plan period, i t willrequire investment of Rs 125,000 million.

Indias Rural Energy Programme has sofar resulted in efficient utilization ofwoodfuels and substitution of woodfuels

by biogas. Studies carried out by the Na-tional Council of Applied Economic Re-search and other institutions have con-firmed the same.


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The National Programme on Improved

Chulha (NPIC) was started towards theend of 1985 under the Governments Mini-mum Needs Programme. The pro-grammes targets are population groupsconsidered weak, both socially and eco-nomically. After a slow start, the pro-gramme picked up momentum and dur-ing the last few years an average of1.5 million chulha(cookstoves) have beeninstalled annually.

Recently, the National Council of AppliedEconomic Research (NCAER), at the in-stance of the Ministry of Non-conventional

Energy Sources, undertook a socio-eco-nomic cost-benefit analysis of the NPIC.A brief description of the methodologyadopted and a summary of the findings ofthis study are presented below.

Programme CostsThe costs of the NPIC can be divided intocapital investments and recurring costs.Capital investments are shared by theGovernment and the beneficiary house-holds. Recurring costs are borne entirelyby beneficiary households; they cover re-

pair and maintenance.

The Government provided Rs 156 million(US$3.6 million) to the NPIC in 199596for installation of 1.6 million improvedchulhas. Almost half of this amount wassubsidy paid to beneficiary households.From the data collected in the severalevaluation studies done by NCAER, it hasbeen found that on top of the subsidy,households spend an average of aboutRs 131 (US$ 3.00) to purchase and in-stall a chulha. Thus, in the year 199596,beneficiary households spent about Rs

210 million for installation of new chulhas.The total capital investment in improvedchulhas in 199596 was thus Rs 365.6million (US$ 8.5 million).

In addition to these fixed costs, house-holds must repair and maintain thechulhas. This involves regular coatingwith dung and cleaning of the chimney.Households must also spend time on cut-ting logs and/or crop residues to appro-priate size for use in the improved chulha.According to the surveys, each householdwith an improved chulha spends an aver-

age of eight rupees on repairs and main-

Social Costs and Benefits of the National Programme on Improved Chulha

Dr I Natarajan tenance and used 13 man-days of familylabour annually for fuel collection andpreparation.

Fuel SavingsThe major benefit of improved chulha istheir fuel efficiency. The NCAERs evalu-ation survey showed that on average, animproved chulha user saves 1.7 litres ofkerosene, 177 kg of dung cakes, 303 kgof wood and 28 kg of crop residues overthe lifetime of the stove. That means thatthe 1.6 million chulhas installed in199596 should have saved 2.72 millionlitres of kerosene, 283,000 tonnes ofdung cakes, 480,000 tonnes of wood and12,000 tonnes of crop residues.

Savings in kerosene are valued atborder* prices, with a foreign exchangepremium of 25 percent. The survey re-vealed that practically all the householdsdiverted the dung they had saved to theirfields as manure. Thus the long-term re-placement value of dung cake can betaken as the value of the nutrients con-tained in them.

Most of woodfuel used in rural areas isgathered, rather than bought, by house-holds. Saving of fuelwood mean less pres-sure on tree resources and less time andenergy spent in collection. This is a ben-efit to the community at large and its so-cial value perhaps is more than the mar-ket value of the wood saved. To be on theconservative side, this report estimatesthe value of the wood saved at the pre-vailing market prices in rural areas.

The value of fuel saved on the above ba-sis for each chulha comes to Rs 545.5(US$ 12.68). The total for all the 1.6 mil-

lion chulhas would thus be Rs 873 mil-lion (US$ 20.3 million).

Social BenefitsHouseholds with improved chulha alsosave time on collection of fuel and oncooking and cleaning of utensils (as theimproved chulhas direct heat energymore efficiently and produce less smoke).The housewife saves an average ofaround 20 days a year on this count. Thus,the net saving on man-days is aroundseven per chulha per year. The opportu-nity cost of this labour is taken as zero, asopportunities for other gainful employmentnormally do not exist in rural villages. How-ever, it should be recognized that this sav-

ing of labour has social benefits, as it itreleases the housewife from drudgeryand enables her to attend to her childrenor get much-needed rest.

There are also other benefits associatedwith the use of improved chulha beyondthe socio-economic sphere, such as re-ducing the incidence of eye and respira-tory diseases among family members,particularly women and children. The en-vironmental benefits are less emission ofsmoke and greenhouse gases due tomore efficient combustion in the chulha,along with conservation ofresources.These are difficult to assign amonetary value, so they were left out ofthe cost-benefit analysis.

The AnalysisThe net benefit per chulha, as calculatedabove, comes to Rs 537.5 per year. How-ever, the mortality rate of chulha is high.Surveys suggest that on average 30 per-cent of of all improved chulhas in use be-come non-operational each year. Thismeans the flow of benefits over time would

decrease. Further, future benefits must bediscounted at the social discount rate. This* This is the landed value of any commodity

imported into the country

Social Discount Rate10% 12%

Net benefits, (Rs. million) 2,183.00 2,125.00Fixed costS (Rs. million) 366.00 366.00NPV (Rs. million) 1,817.00 1,759.00Benefit-cost ratio 5.97.00 5.81

IRR (%) 201.90 201.90

Table: Present Value of Net Benefits of NPIC


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Dr Natarajan is Chief Economist atNCAER, Delhi

Growing trees is an age old practice, in-grained in Indias cultural ethos. Cultivatedtrees have long been an integral part ofour farming system. Trees growing out-side forests are important sources of

fuelwood, fodder, food, timber and otheruseful products, largely used up by localcommunities. The role of these trees insoil and water conservation, ruraleconomy and, in a wider context, inbiodiversity conservation, carbon seques-tration and environmental improvementis of paramount importance.

A national Social Forestry programme waslaunched in the 1970s, promoting popu-lar participation in planting of trees onnon-forest community and private land bymotivation, guidance and assistance. The

central idea was to raise trees forfuelwood, small timber and fodder so asto obviate the pressure on the natural for-ests and also to protect agricultural fieldsagainst wind and fulfil recreational needs.The 1980s saw extensive areas plantedunder this programme.

Surveying Trees Outside the Forest

Dr V N Pandey

While recognition of the importance oftrees outside forests (TOF) has beengrowing since the launch of the SocialForestry programme and before, there isstill no comprehensive study on the avail-ability of wood from TOF. The absence ofsystematic information means that TOF re-

sources tend to be ignored in framing ofpolicies and in national planning andmanagement of forest and tree resources.

Against this backdrop, the Forest Surveyof India (FSI) is undertaking a survey toassess the availability of wood in TOF. The

survey looks at all standing trees in thestudy areas, with the exception of treesin forests and trees in urban areas, grownprimarily for environmental and recrea-tional purposes. The sampling design,field formats and data processing meth-odology were developed by FSI. Four

states were originally chosen for the sur-vey: Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnatakaand West Bengal.

MethodologyThe survey uses stratified random sam-pling, taking the village as sampling unit.Pilot surveys were undertaken in 1991 totest the formats and definitions and to as-certain sample size the number of vil-lages needing to be surveyed in order toobtain a reliable picture of the number ofTOF in a state and their growing stock(wood volume). The necessary distribu-

tion of villages to be surveyed in differentdistricts was worked out by proportionalallocation based on the non-forest areaof the district. Sample villages within adistrict were selected randomly.

Classification of TreesThe survey counts and measures all treeswith a diameter of 10cm and above in theselected villages. Planted trees are clas-sified into eight categories:

Farm forestry: trees growing naturallyor planted in small patches upto 0.1

ha in an area;

Village woodlot: naturally growing orplanted trees on village communityland;

Plantations: compact plantation cov-ering an area of more than 0.1 hec-tares on private/government land ex-cept village community;

Roadside plantations;

Railwayside plantations;

Canalside plantations;

Pondside plantations;

Others (trees not falling in any of theabove categories).Railwayside trees: a good source of free non-forest fuelwood

rate should normally be the real interestrate prevalent in the economy. In 199596,the prime lending rate after adjusting forinflation was around 10 percent. However,for the present analysis, two discountrates are used: 10 percent and 12 per-cent. The net present value and the ben-efit-cost ratio are worked out using thesetwo rates in the table above.

What we find is that the benefit-cost ratiois impressive, at almost 6:1. This despitethe fact that the chulhas at present areworking well below their theoretical po-tential. And of course to this we must addthe unquantified benefits. The internal rateof return, at more than 200 percent, is also

very high.

It is abundantly clear from the above analy-sis that the NPIC is a sound programme,both financially and socially. It shouldtherefore continue to be a key componentof the Governments energy conservationstrategy.


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Fuelwood Collection and Trade as a Survival Strategy in Northwest Bengal

Dr Ram Prasad, Dr ParodyutBhattacharya and Dr Bharati Joshi

All tree species are recorded. Data on im-portant species is analysed individually,while the remaining species are groupedtogether as other species.

A ratio estimate is applied to estimate thenumber of trees and growing stock. Theresults are compiled by district.

The Survey in HaryanaThe first phase of the survey focussed onthe state of Haryana. Haryana is in thenorthwest of the country and has a geo-graphic area of 4.42 million ha and non-forest area of 4.36 million ha. It was se-lected because of the reported success ofthe Social Forestry programme in the state.

The Haryana survey took place between1991 and 1995. A total of 219 villages,spread over all of Haryanas 12 districts

(there are now 19) were surveyed.

From the survey data, the estimated totalnumber of trees outside forest in Haryanais 54,984 million, spread over 4.36 millionhectares), or 12.6 trees per hectare. The

total standing volume of wood in TOF isestimated to be 10.30 million m3, or2.36 m3/ha. Among the important tree spe-cies found were Acacia nilotica, Eucalyp-tus spp., Dalbergia sissoo, Prosopiscineraria, Salvadora spp., Populus spp.,Acacia tortilis, Azadirachta indica andMangifera indica. These constituted about80% of tree volume, while the other 20%was made up of other species.

The greatest share of trees, some 41%,was under farm forestry. Village woodlotsaccounted for the next-largest share(23%). These were followed by roadsideplantation (13%), block plantation (11%)and canalside plantation (9%). The con-tribution of the remaining categories wasmarginal, at just 3%.

When these figures are compared to the

availability of growing stock in natural for-ests, which is estimated to be 1.41 millionm3, it can be seen that the standing vol-ume of TOF is roughly seven times that ofnatural forest. This in itself demonstratesthe importance of TOF.

Dr Pandey is Joint Director of the ForestSurvey of India

Survey ProgressThe survey of TOF has been extendedbeyond the four original sites to take in a

number of other states around the coun-try. Survey work is currently under way inAndhra Pradesh, Karnataka, MadhyaPradesh, Orissa, Punjab, Uttar Pradeshand West Bengal. Age and area havebeen added as new parameters, particu-larly for farm forestry, village woodlots andblock plantation. This will be useful in as-sessing the periodic availability of woodfrom such sources.

In addition to the information already gath-ered, some other key aspects need to beanalysed, among them the end use of

the wood, its likely periodic availability,utilization patterns, and trade and mar-keting. Such a database would be im-mensely useful in policy formulation andin planning and management of this vitalresource.

The narrow chicken neck region ofNorthwest Bengal (see map right) is sur-rounded by a number of other Indianstates along with three neighbouringcountries: Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhu-tan. Its situation means that NorthwestBengal plays host to a large number of

both legal and illegal migrants, driven fromtheir homes by both natural disasters andman-made problems. Fuelwood collection

and trade acts as a safety net for many ofthese displaced people, who often arrivein Northwest Bengal with almost nothing.

A case study on Forests and DisplacedPeople: Woodfuel Collection and Trade asa First-step Survival Strategy was recentlyundertaken by the Indian Institute of For-est Management, an autonomous instituteunder the Ministry of Environment and For-ests, Government of India. This RWEDP-

sponsored study was aimed at understand-ing the regional peculiarities of woodfuelflow in the chicken neck, and to document

A prosopis tree grows on wasteland

Trees dontjust grow inforests


13/28


the impact of the migrants on the areasforests, with special reference to fuelwoodproduction, collection and marketing andrelated issues.

MethodologyA combination of methods were used inthe case study, including surveys, inter-views, focus group discussions and par-ticipatory rural appraisal. The study cov-ered three districts: Cooch Bihar,Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri. Some eight dif-ferent questionnaires and checklists wereused to guide primary data collection athousehold, village and market levels. Atotal of 255 household respondents in 55villages of five forest divisions and 18 for-est ranges were surveyed.

ResultsFuelwood emerged as the most impor-

tant wood product in the three districts,with more than 70 percent originating instate forests. The study indicated that morethan 200,000 people enter 11,879 km2 offorests in Northwest Bengal every day, col-lecting up to 120 kg of fuelwood per weekper household.

Fuelwood business was found to be themain source of income for 10 percent ofrural households in the three study dis-tricts, and accounted for about 45 percentof their cash income. Around 72,000 tonsof fuelwood per week, some 45 percentof total fuelwood supply in the study area,is monetized, traded in the primary andsecondary markets of Northwest Bengal.

Of the more than 700,000 rural peopleengaged in fuelwood trade in the studyarea, around 36 percent are migrants whodepend on fuelwood collection and saleas the major source of household income.The largest proportion (53 percent) arefrom Bangladesh, attracted to this part ofWest Bengal by the prospect of earningcash from selling fuelwood. Fuelwood

trade remains the main occupation amongthis group. Around 0.1 million Bangla-deshis in the area contribute more than

15 percent of the illegally removedfuelwood on the market.

The socio-economic impacts of the mi-gration and fuelwood trade include:

Accelerated supply to the flourishingillegal fuelwood market;

Social heterogeneity and consequentdemographic distortion;

Encroachment on public and commu-nity lands due to the low land-to-per-son ratio; and

Irreversible damage to natural forestsfrom unsustainable demands forfuelwood.

The labour forces of the tea gardens inJalpaiguri are responsible for a large pro-portion of the demand for fuelwood that iscurrently being met from forest resources.This has been exacerbated by the with-

drawal by the Forest Department of theregular quota of fuelwood alloted to teagardens .

There are few trees on non-forest areas,traditional woodlots or private plantationsin Baikunthapur and Darjeeling forest di-visions, putting extra pressure on forestresources. However, in the forest-deficientCooch Bihar Social Forestry Division,fuelwood is either derived from tradition-ally managed home gardens or is pur-chased on the market. Non-monetized orfree fuelwood supply in Baikunthapur and

Darjeeling is derived illegally and destruc-tively from local forests, through progres-sive debarking and girdling. Primary col-lectors systematically fell both young andmature trees using hand axes and sick-les. An armed Forest Protection Force de-ployed by the Forest Department hasbeen unsuccessful in stopping the de-struction. The local population is so des-perate to obtain fuelwood from the foreststhat there are frequent conflicts betweencommunities and the Forest Department.This has exacerbated souring relationsbetween the two partners in the JointForest Management initiative.

Impact on WomenDistances travelled and time taken forfuelwood collection have increased overthe years, and with them the time and ef-fort needed for more sustainable gather-ing of forest residues for free householdfuel. This has added to rural womens work-load. Furthermore, the easy availability offree or cheap woodfuels, coupled with thelow or non-availability of alternative fuelsand cooking technologies, mean women

continue to use traditional wood-fuelledchulhasthat release a lot of smoke. Longexposure to indoor pollution results in

Fuelwood Dependence in the Study Districts

District Total Forest Area % of HouseholdsPopulation (in km2 and % Exclusively Dependent(in millions) of total area) on Fuelwood

Jalpaiguri 2.8 1,580 (25.4%) 86%Darjeeling 1.3 1,445 (45.9%) 88%Cooch Bihar 2.17 32 (0.9%) 20%

Source: Field Surveys

Fuelwood gatherers in Northwest Bengal


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Policy is needed to include provisionsfor smooth movement of fuelwood.

Resource data related to fuelwood

eeds to be generated using moderntechnologies.

Fuelwood issues need not be brought inas a free-standing subject, but could eas-ily be strengthened or introduced withinthe existing subjects.

More requisites for improved training onwood energy-related issues are develop-ment of appropriate training materials, ex-change of faculty and training materialsbetween institutions and training of train-ers. Networking amongst the various in-

stitutions offering forestry training needsto be strengthened. Research applica-tions currently do not get adequately inte-grated in the training curricula. Due to alack of adequate emphasis on wood en-ergy issues, there is a shortage of reli-able wood energy resource and con-sumption figures.

Sustained-yield forest systems can notonly offer woodfuel but can also act ascarbon sinks, recycling greenhousegases, and generate employment. Thisaspect also needs to be emphasized inforestry training.

Hence not only forestry training curriculaneeds a stronger focus on wood energybut all the related sectors also need to beaware of this issue. In the search for alter-native energy sources, this traditional en-ergy source should not be ignored orundermined.

Dr Prasad is Director, and DrsBhattacharya and Joshi are facultymembers, of the Indian Institute ofForest Management, Bhopal

Mr Gangopadhyay is Director of theIndira Gandhi National Forest Academy

The subject of forest management is ad-dressed by various forestry training insti-tutions in India and is also a part of the

forestry education system in agriculturaluniversities. Training of the different lev-els of foresters is particularly important inIndia because more than 95 percent offorest is owned and managed by the Gov-ernment. The existing forestry training pat-tern encompasses a large number of multi-disciplinary subjects, addressingfuelwood conservation, production, flowand marketing.

Besides the Indira Gandhi National For-est Academy, which trains top-ranking In-dian Forest Service (IFS) officers, thereare three state forest service colleges, sixforest rangers colleges, 25 foresters train-ing schools and 37 forest guards trainingschools in the country which provide pro-fessional forestry training to state-level ex-ecutives. There are also 25 agriculturaluniversities and 212 agricultural collegeswhich offer forestry-related degrees at un-dergraduate level and a few at postgradu-ate level.

The Indian Forest Service training followsa regularly updated syllabus. Conserva-

tion, flow and utilization of wood energyare covered in the following subjects:

1) Overview of Forestry;

2) Forest Ecology;

3) Forest Mensuration;

4) Soil Conservation and Land Manage-ment;

5) Silvicultural Practices;

Wood Energy in Forestry Training

P B Gangopadhyay6) Silvicultural Systems;

7) Systematic Botany;

8) Forest Management;

9) Working Plan;

10)Forest Harvesting and Wood-basedIndustries;

11)Environmental Conservation; and

12)People and Forests.

Even though the present curriculum haswide coverage of issues related to woodenergy, more specific focus is needed onthe issue. The syllabi of SFS colleges,rangers colleges, foresters and forestguard schools also cover fuelwood top-ics in the same pattern as the IFS trainingcurriculum, but not in such depth.

Shortfalls in TrainingSome shortfalls in current wood energytraining are:

Lack of coverage of trends in cleanenergy consumption using moderntechnology and other non-conven-

tional energy sources substitutingfuelwood.

Quantification of fuelwood needs to bemore clearly brought out.

Yield tables with specific fuelwood out-put need to be prepared.

The role of fuelwood in meeting theeffects of global warming needs to begiven more coverage in environmen-tal conservation.

diseases among rural women and theirinfants, who always stay close to them.

RecommendationsThis case study emphasizes the need forviable and effective strategies for the pro-motion of alternative fuels and green tech-nologies in Northwest Bengal. These ini-tiatives need to be backed up with appro-priate incentives to wean local people

away from earning quick cash from sell-ing forest-derived fuelwood, whose avail-ability appears to be the strongest disin-centive for them switching over to cleanerand greener alternatives. Forestry and en-ergy sector programmes need to be inte-grated into those of other sectors to bringabout holistic development of the area. Itis also recommended that the existingJoint Forest Management institutions in

the area be revitalized and their energychannelled to tackle fuelwood problems.


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Type of

Bakery

Nature of

Plant

Flour Used

per Day

Fuel Dependence on Fuel

Options

Consumption Capacity

of Oven (wood)

Large Semi

automatic

1,8003,500

kg

D + W + E 50% diesel and electric

50% diesel and fuelwood

150180 kg/12 hr

Medium Manual 500800 kg D + W + E 5% totally fuelwood

5% totally diesel

25% only electric

65% electric + fuelwood

90100 kg/12 hr

Small Manual 6090 kg W 100% fuelwood 7080 kg/12 hr

Commercial bakeries and brick kilns re-main the most popular and established

non-domestic uses of wood energy in In-dia. However, while wood-fired brick kilnsare in steady decline, bakeries continueto use fuelwood at much the same levels.

The ScenarioThe ScenarioThe ScenarioThe ScenarioThe ScenarioBhopal, the capital of the central Indianprovince of Madhya Pradesh, with an es-timated population of around 14 lakh(1.4million, houses 125 or so bakeries. Onlyfour of these can be categorized as largeoperations (see Table 1), enjoy small-scale industry status and hold district in-dustry centre licenses. They producebreads and toasts (breads dried in theoven) for consumption not only in Bhopalbut also in adjoining areas such asObedullaganj, Mandideep, Vidisha,Wasoda and Itarsi.

Of the rest, 20 can be called mediumsized. They have a wider range of prod-ucts, including various kinds of cakes andbiscuits, are known for value-added qual-ity products and normally maintain show-rooms. The rest of the bakeries can becategorized as small and very small, op-

erating at a primary level and producingonly toasts for local consumption.

Wood as FuelThree energy sources are commonly usedin Bhopals bakeries: woodfuel, electric-ity and diesel. Diesel is the newest ofthese. One interesting feature of fuel useis that even the large-sized bakeries havenot completely stopped using woodfuel.Some of them in fact simultaneously runtraditional wood-fired and sophisticateddiesel and/or electric ovens. At the otherextreme, wood is the only source of en-

Woodfuel in Bakeries in Bhopal

Ass. Prof. N B Majumdar

ergy for a large number of the small andvery small bakeries.

This brings us to the obvious question ofthe advantages and disadvantages of us-ing fuelwood, and also the underlying rea-sons that make fuelwood a prime energyoption for a large number of bakeries:

1. Using fuelwood requires traditionalovens, with an inner lining constructedof fire bricks to retain heat for a longertime. Wood is ignited and left burningin the chamber for three to four hours.This produces charcoal, which is keptinside the chamber while the trays ofbreads are placed inside for baking.The initial investment for this type of

oven is Rs 12,000150,000 (US$2803,500) depending on capacity and thequality of the inner lining. Electric ordiesel ovens of similar or greater ca-pacity would cost Rs 300,000700,000(US$7,00016,000).

2. The energy costs of fuelwood ovensare also much lower than those for theother two fuel options. A medium-sizedbakery consumes about one quintal(hundredweight or 122 pounds) ofwood per day, costing Rs 140170(US$3.304.00). The same work uses

around 60 units of electricity if all donein an electric oven. At the industrial rateof Rs 3.17 per unit of electricity, thiscosts Rs 190.2 (US$4.42) per day. At

the commercial rate (Rs 5.10 per unit),the daily cost is Rs 306 (US$7.10). Asnot all bakeries are eligible for the in-dustrial rate (which depends largely ontheir location), the difference in energycosts can be quite substantial.

3. Electric and diesel ovens are easy tooperate thanks to the better tempera-ture control. Wood-fired ovens, on theother hand, require skilled manual la-bourers; though there is no shortageof these in Bhopal and its vicinity.

4. Availability of fuelwood is not a prob-lem in this area. Large and mediumbakeries purchase fuelwood from con-tractors and occasionally from retail-ers. Small bakeries, due to lack of stor-age space, are compelled to purchaseit in small quantities, invariably fromretailers. The flow of fuelwood from thesource to the bakeries is shownin Fig-ure 1.

Babul (Acacia nilotica) is the most soughtafter wood species due to its high calo-

rific value. The next most popular areDhaoda (Anogcisum latifolia) and Satputa(Dalbergia panniculata). These arecheaper than Babul but are inferior as fu-els. The ideal girth class is 25 to 45 cm, atwhich size the logs can be used straightaway. Logs of larger girth have to be split,demanding more time and expenditure,while thinner logs burn too quickly.

Small BakeriesThe situation of small bakeries is the mostprecarious, as their choice of fuel is quitelimited. They are obliged to use fuelwood

Table 1: Characteristics of Bakeries in Bhopal

D: diesel, W: fuelwood, E: electricity


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because of the cheaper initial investmentand running costs; they are also bound topurchase it from retailers due to lack ofstorage space, but this means they can-not get the lower rates available in bulk

purchasing. During the rainy season, us-ing fuelwood can become problematic. Atthe same time, these small bakeries facesteep competition from their larger com-petitors. Without showrooms, gaining areputation and marketing on the strengthof their own name is more difficult.

N B Majumdar is Associate Professor atthe Indian Institute of Forest Manage-ment, Bhopal

An association of bakeries was constitutedin 1989, during a severe crisis in flour sup-plies. However, the association no longerexists, so there is now practically no fo-rum for bakeries to take up their concernswith the relevant authorities.

Fuelwood now accounts for a substantial10 percent of the production costs of thesmall bakeries (see left). If they can ob-tain concessionary supplies from publicsector depots, these production costs

Mangroves are intertidal forests that shel-ter coastal lands from cyclonic storms anderosion, enhancing production of variousfishery resources and thereby providinglivelihood support to millions of people inthe tropical and sub-tropical regions ofthe world. Various socio-economic andphysical factors as well asgeomorphological processes are caus-

ing mangroves on both the east and westcoasts of India to become degraded,bringing considerable hardship to coastalcommunities. Not least among the pres-sures on the mangroves is excessive andunsustainable exploitation for firewood,timber and grazing land.

A project of the M S Swaminathan Re-search Foundation in Chennai is attempt-ing to mobilize and develop institutions atvillage level to address the various prob-lems affecting the mangroves and toevolve site-specific participatory systems

for sustainable management of these im-portant natural resources. These institu-tions involve local forestry departments,

Fuelwood Collection and Use and Mangrove on the East Coast

S Sankaramurthy local communities, voluntary organiza-tions and panchayats. In the initial stagesof the project, a benchmark socio-eco-nomic survey was conducted in a fewrepresentative villages using or depend-ent on local mangroves. Data was col-lected on fuelwood sources and use inthe villages. The results are given in thetable opposite.

In Tamilnadu, because of the scant avail-ability of wood in the mangroves and theabundance of Prosopis julifloraon localwastelands, collection of fuelwood frommangroves is very low 64 percent ofrural fuelwood comes from wild waste-land prosopis. Use of mangrove forfuelwood is much higher in theMahanadhi delta in Orissa and in AndhraPradesh, where mangroves are easily ac-cessible. In and around the villages inKrishna, Andhra Pradesh, prosopis isabundant. However, because of thethorns prosopis bears, villagers prefer to

use mangrove wood for both fuel, for re-inforcement of the mud walls in theirhouses, and for fences.

InterventionsThrough the village-level institutions, theproject attempts to minimize extraction ofmangrove wood for fuel or house construc-tion in order to halt the process of degra-dation and minimize disturbance of themangrove habitat. Village-levelmicroplans address these concernsthrough:

Promotion of alternative fuelwood re-

sources in village homesteads, on com-mon lands and on encroached edges ofmangrove forests found no longer suitablefor re-establishment of mangrove but suit-able for non-mangrove fuelwood, fodderand timber species. Degraded mangroveareas, especially in Tamilnadu and AndhraPradesh, due to geomorphologicalchanges and altered hydrological condi-tions, have many patches in which it maynot be possible to restore mangrove. Lo-cal forestry departments are being per-suaded to raise fuelwood plantations onsuch patches, to meet village fuelwood

requirements and thereby reduce pres-sure on the remaining mangroves. Theproject is also trying to convince the for-

Figure 1: How Bakeries Obtain Fuelwood

Contractors

PrivateOwners

(growers)

Forest Dept Depot

Large and MediumBakeries

Retailers

Small Bakeries

could be reduced, albeit marginally, giv-ing them a greater chance of survival andsuccess.

The author wishes to express deep grati-tude to the bakery owners of Bhopal forsparing their valuable time and sharing

information.

Item Cost(in Rs)

1 bag (90 kg) flour 780

10 kg sugar 58

2 kg oil 400

4 labourers 400

Fuelwood (1 quintal) 150

Total 1,543.00

Typical Daily ProductionCosts in a Small Bakery


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Mangrove: an important coastal resourceestry departments to extend suitable jointforest management practices to the man-groves, so that the benefits from thesefuelwood plantations can be shared bythe participating communities and the for-estry departments. In Orissa and AndhraPradesh, abandoned shrimp farms canalso be utilised for fuelwood plantations.Fuelwood resources in homesteads andwastelands within the village will consid-erably reduce the time and drudgery in-volved in fuelwood collection, especiallyfor women engaged in fuelwood collec-tion.

Encouraging growth of prosopis on de-graded areas around mangrove forestand on other wasteland, to minimize pres-sure on scarce mangrove resources.Prosopis shrubs can withstand repeatedcuts and prosopis wood is a very efficientfuelwood. Extraction for fuelwood ofprosopis colonizing mangroves couldalso effectively arrest further colonization.Such efforts through this project have al-ready started to yield results in the coastalvillages of Andhra Pradesh, where house-holds have switched over to collection anduse of prosopis wood instead of man-grove.

Encouraging use of fuel-efficientcookstoves to minimize consumption offuelwood. Both this project and the eco-development projects of local forestry de-partments are arranging supply of suchstoves.

Mr Sankaramurthy is Project Director ofthe Project on Coastal Wetlands:Mangrove Conservation and Manage-

ment, at the M S Swaminathan Re-search Foundation, Chennai

Table 1: Survey Results

Villages in and around Mangrove Forest in:

Data on

PichavaramTamilnadu

MuthupetTamil-nadu

KrishnaAndhraPradesh

GodavariAndhraPradesh

MahanadhiOrissa

Average dailyhouseholdconsumption (kg)

4.80 4.40 4.00 4.00 6.37

% of householdsusing woodfrom mangroves

13 2 37 43 97

% of householdsin which womenare fuelwoodgatherers

79 20 40 80 66

Major sources offuelwood used inthe village % of totalconsumption:Purchase/vendorsOwn sourcesVillage commons& mangroves

342924

272064

} 3466

} 3466

3397

Avge time spenton fuelwoodgathering per day % ofhouseholds:< 1 hour12 hours> 2 hours

47449

4060

100

1

99

100


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It is well established that briquettedbiomass is a convenient, efficient andclean solid fuel; yet its use is so far mini-mal compared to its great potential. Thispoor utilization is basically down to eco-nomics. So long as the cost of the requi-site inputs of raw material, power andbriquetting machinery remains high making briquettes more expensive thanlocally available alternatives like coal andwood and users can circumvent emis-sion standards, briquettes will not find theirdue place.

However, with rising transport costs, short-

ages of wood and other fuels, and in-creasing demand due to industrialization,briquettes are becoming economical andfinding a market in specific locations, par-ticularly where users are conscious of thenegative environmental impacts of burn-ing loose biomass or fossil fuels. For ex-ample, briquettes are popular in Europeas luxury fuels for traditional fireplaces,largely because recycling of woodwasteis considered environmentally friendly.

ProductionBiomass briquettes are manufactured by

two technologies: ram press or extrusionthrough a 55 to 90 mm diameter screwpress. The screw press briquettes have acentral hole of about 10 mm diameter,which provides additional surface areaand facilitates complete and efficient com-bustion. Screw press briquettes are alsomore homogeneous, with better crushingstrength, and are therefore preferred toram press briquettes. In the past, screwpressing consumed 2530 percent morepower than ram pressing. However, withthe latest techniques, the power consump-tion in screw pressing is now comparable

with ram pressing: in the range of 3845kwh per tonne of finished briquettes.

Briquettes have made little impact in thedomestic sector. Furthermore, medium-ized industries situated in agricultural ar-eas are switching over to direct burningof agro-residues in boilers, mostly deploy-ing fluidized bed technologies. Accord-ingly, briquettes have found a niche insmall-scale industries using conventionalstationary grate boilers, brick making,potteries and similar industries.

ProspectsThe introduction of biomass briquettingin India with much fanfare during the early

Status of Biomass Fuel Briquetting

Prof. P D Grover

1980s was followed quickly by debacle.This was mainly due to the low quality ofindigenously produced ram pressbriquetting machines, and to mismanage-ment by the first generation of briquettingentrepreneurs. Around 90 percent of themachines were scrapped.

It is an indication of briquettes potentialthat the industry has not only survived buthas lately picked up momentum. Usersand authorities are beginning to realizethe value of briquettes.

Between 1987 and 1999, 32 ram pressbriquetting plants were established withfunding from the Indian Renewable En-ergy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA),with a total sanctioned loan of Rs 158 mil-lion (US$ 3.7 million). Out of the 150 rampress machines (capacity 500750 kg/hr)installed, about 60 machines, or 4045plants, are still in operation.

Although the present success rate paintsa slightly brighter picture for biomassbriquetting in India, there are still manyshortfalls, and capacity utilization of themachines is low. The successes havemainly been due to the demand for bri-quettes and experience gained in manu-facturing and maintenance of machines.There are about five manufacturers in thecountry making briquetting machines, but

each of them has different quality stand-ards and price structures. There is thusan urgent need to draw up standards forbriquetting machines, and this process

Prof. Grover recently retired as Head ofthe Chemical Engineering Departmentat the Indian Institute of Technology inDelhi, and has now founded CMSEnergy Consultants, also in Delhi

has already been initiated by the Gov-ernment.

Coffee husk, groundnut shells, mustardstalks and sawdust are still consideredthe most suitable raw materials forbriquetting. Increasingly, press mud, a

waste product from sugar mills, is beingused, and the briquettes made with it arepartially substituting coal in some localbrick kilns. Coir pith and bagasse are theleast used due to their relatively highmoisture content. Presently none of theplants are using rice husk.

ConclusionsEven though Japan had 638 screw pressbriquetting plants as early as 1962,screw press technology is still not estab-lished in India. This is mainly due to theexcessive cost of imported machines andthe large-scale failure of machinesmanufactured locally. Steps are neededto produce these machines with propermaterial specifications, in technical col-laboration with overseas manufacturers.In the final analysis, biomass briquettingcan only fulfil its full potential for positiveenvironmental impact through large-scale production of the far superiorscrew press briquettes.

A biomass briquetting plant in action


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Plantation crops, which include tea, cof-fee, cardamom, rubber and cashew nuts,are important sources of foreign exchangefor India. The majority of plantation cropsare grown by small-scale farmers withlandholdings smaller than 10 hectares,mainly in hilly and woody areas.

Processing of plantation crops whichusually means drying often requires ahigh energy input, whether electrical, ther-mal or human. The thermal energy forprocessing is mainly derived fromfuelwood, in fewer cases from coal or oil.

The crop residues husks, empty fruitbunches, trees that have passed their use-ful life can also sometimes be used asfuel. In this case they are mostly used toprovide energy for crop processing. Be-low is a comparison of the fuel potentialsof some common plantation crop residues,particularly those available in sufficientquantities to be used outside cropprocessing.

CoffeeCoffee is processed by one of two meth-ods. In the dry method, the entire coffeefruit is dried directly. The outer skin driesout to form a husk, which is then removedmechanically by hulling. In the wet proc-ess, this outer skin is removed by me-chanical pulping of the ripe fruit. The mu-cilage layer surrounding the coffee beanis removed by natural fermentation or othermethods. The process leaves roughly halfthe original weight of the coffee cherryin husks and other residues.

Plantation Crop Residues as an Energy Source

Dr C Palaniappan

Dr Palaniappan is General Secretary ofthe Planters Energy Network

The coffee husk has potential for powergeneration using gasification. Gases ob-tained in this way can be utilized to run a

diesel genset in dual-fuel mode. The ma-jor constraint is that the harvesting periodfor coffee is only 60 days in the year, whilethe processing stage may run for another60 days. This means basing a year-roundindustrial operation on coffee residues isnot possible. Presently, most of the wetcoffee residues are used as manure. How-ever, many small-scale industr ies, such asflour or dhallmills, use coffee husk as fuel.Coffee husk is also used at domestic levelto meet day-to-day heat needs.

Shade trees are grown along with coffee

plants, and side loppings from these areoften given as domestic fuel for coffee la-bourers living in the fields. The three tofour tonnes of fuelwood yielded by shadetrees on one acre of coffee plantation canmeet the cooking and bathing fuel needsof a two-person family for about a year.

CardamomThe green cardamom, known as theQueen of Spices, is grown in lush greenforests. Most cardamom plantations arerun by small farmers. Drying, which in-volves reduction of the cardamom pods

moisture content from 85 to 10 percent, isdone in smokehouses. The fuel for thesesmokehouses usually comes from sideloppings and dead trees in the cardamomfield. The efficiency of many smokehousesis very low, meaning a lot of fuelwood iswasted. Cardamom residues have no po-tential as fuels: due to the high costs in-volved, all the residues from cardamomdrying, including the dust, are used insome way.

RubberOnce the latex of the rubber tree has beenrolled into sheets, it also needs to be driedand smoked, largely in smokehouses withlow thermal efficiency. Wood from nolonger productive rubber trees was, untilfairly recently, used as fuel. Now, withchemical

Documents

Wood Energy in India