Much to the delight of the officials of Centre for Social Forestry and Eco-Rehabilitation (CSFER), their innovative project on Jatropha has received good response from farmers.
"National Network on Research and Development of Jatropha" the project sanctioned by National Oil Seed and Vegetable Oil Development(NOVOD) Board, has managed to create an awareness among people regarding the utilisation of this plant as the next best source of fuel in the form of bio-diesel, said AK Pandey, Centre head.
"People are responding to the efforts made by the Centre. They have started planting Jatropha", added Pandey.
Constant efforts are being made by the Centre to generate awareness among people about various uses of Jatropha. Time to time seminars and workshops for farmers are being held by the Centre, where they are informed about different uses of jatropha such as bio-diesel, medicine and fertiliser. Besides, it helps in reclamation of waste land. Not only this, it is best suited for agro-forestry, claimed Pandey.
He said, farmers are also informed about its other advantages like it is quite easy and economical to grow Jatropha as it can very well grow on barren land. It does not require any fencing as cattle do not graze these plants.
Apart from this, the Centre also conducts training for farmers on Jatropha planting.
{{/usCountry}}Apart from this, the Centre also conducts training for farmers on Jatropha planting.
{{/usCountry}}Presently, provenance trial is being carried out by the Centre, where we are trying to find out which clone of Jatropha is best suited to the climatic condition of Allahabad region, said Pandey.
"Besides, we are also preparing for international conference on 'Bio-Fuels Vision 2015', which will be held in Bikaner in the month of October this year under the auspices of Engineering College, Bikaner", he said.