NSI, ICAR-IIMR Ludhiana sign MoU
Kanpur: National Sugar Institute, Kanpur (NSI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research, Ludhiana to carry out research and development work to boost ethanol production from maize.
The Mol was signed on Monday in Ludhiana by Prof Narendra Mohan, director, National Sugar Institute, Kanpur and HS Jat, director, ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research, Ludhiana.
The Mol focusses on development of new maize hybrids by the ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research, Ludhiana suitable for different agro-climatic zones and evaluation of performance with respect to their ethanol production potential by National Sugar Institute, at its Nano Ethanol Unit. “We are hopeful that the MoU will go a long way in enhancing the income of maize farmers and reducing cost of production of maize based ethanol”, said the two directors.
Maize is goingIo play an important role in achieving the targets for ethanol blending programme by the year 2025. For that, as per the projections, about 7000 million litres of alcohol is to be produced from grains, rice and maize in particular to cope up with the requirement of ethanol blending in petrol, potable liquor and chemical sectors, said Prof Narendra Mohan.
“For a win-win situation for the farmers and industry, we have to work on increasing productivity from the factory with stress on developing a self-sustainable bio-refinery model for maize based alcohol”, he said.
The farm productivity of maize being about 2.7-2.9 tonnes/hectare in the country is lower and is almost half of the world’s average. While the productivity in major maize producing states of Andra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh differ to a significant extent, it also varies when cropped as Kharif and Rabi crop. Efforts would be made to address this issue by developing new maize hybrids suitable for different agrerclimatic conditions, said Dr. HS Jat, director, ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research.
