Support farmers, promote biofuels, says Gadkari

Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said there is a need to support farmers who are denied fair prices for their produce because of global factors.

"The sugar price is determined by Brazil, the oil price by Malaysia, the corn price by the US and the soya bean price is influenced by Argentina," he said while addressing the second edition of India Bioenergy and Tech Expo. "We are facing problems of poverty and unemployment in rural and tribal India because farmers are not getting good prices in the global economy," he said.

According to the minister, 65% of India's population is engaged in agricultural activities but their contribution to the country's GDP is only 14%. "So, in this scenario, to protect our rural agriculture and tribal economy, we need to support agriculture, which is very important for the consumer, for the country and for you," he said.


Citing the instance of ₹45,000 crore of additional income to farmers who produced ethanol from coal, Gadkari called for diversification of agriculture towards the energy and power sector. "It is the need of our country and alternative fuel and biofuel have a great future in India," he said. "Presently, we are the importer of energy... the day will come when we will be the exporter of energy," he said, adding India should gear up for exporting ethanol given its surplus production in the country. "It is the time for India's futuristic development. We need to reduce our imports and increase our exports. As far as the surplus of ethanol, it is now the requirement of the country that we need to export ethanol," he added.