Bioenergy crops can contribute to the reduction of overall consumption of fossil fuels; however, India is a heavily populated agriculture economy demanding huge amounts of food and energy, so use of agricultural lands to produce energy crops puts a direct pressure on agri-based economy. A collaborative project for development of Sustainable Advanced Lignocellulosic Biofuel Systems was launched in 2012 between USA and India emphasizing high biomass bamboo, sorghum and pearl millet feedstock cultivation at marginal ecologies in 9 villages of 3 districts of Gujarat state in India. A baseline survey was conducted by interviewing 415 households followed by focus group discussion to understand socioeconomic profile of the targeted region, agricultural practices, awareness and inclination of local growers toward commercialization of biofuels crops. Survey data were analyzed using SPSS statistical tool. The survey showed that land holding of 2.5–5 acres and 5–10 acres was prevalent, with rain-fed and borewell irrigation and average soil quality having medium to shallow deep soil structure. Annual income from farm showed positive association with soil quality, while lower productivity from bad-quality soil. Households were interested to grow biofuel crops only if they give better net profit as compared to current crops. Good land quality, larger cultivated area and joint family had relatively less risk of bioenergy crop production than the counterpart. Household having above poverty line (77.8%) signified annual income of more than 10,000 INR. Lower literacy rate showed that 5–15% of the members migrated out of village for temporary seasonal livelihood. The districts were well connected with roads with enough frequency of state and private vehicles, railways, government postal services, mobile phone network and round the time electricity for household entitled the districts to penetrate bioenergy market. Leveraging available infrastructure and adopting large-scale co-operative mechanized farming, crop rotation within agro-forestry system, diversification of food, fiber and energy crops through policy support would bring economic and environmental benefits along with new market, job creation and bioenergy industries at surveyed ecology.

中文翻译：

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在古吉拉特邦种植生物能源作物：了解土地所有者当前做法的咨询调查过程

生物能源作物有助于减少化石燃料的总体消耗；然而，印度是一个人口稠密的农业经济体，需要大量的食物和能源，因此利用农业用地生产能源作物给农业经济带来了直接压力。2012 年，美国和印度之间启动了一个开发可持续先进木质纤维素生物燃料系统的合作项目，重点是在印度古吉拉特邦 3 个区的 9 个村庄的边缘生态环境中种植高生物量的竹子、高粱和珍珠粟。基线调查是通过采访 415 户家庭进行的，然后进行焦点小组讨论，以了解目标地区的社会经济概况、农业实践、当地种植者对生物燃料作物商业化的认识和倾向。调查数据采用SPSS统计工具进行分析。调查显示，2.5-5 亩和 5-10 亩的土地占有率普遍，雨水灌溉和井灌，平均土壤质量为中浅层深层土壤结构。农场年收入与土壤质量呈正相关，而劣质土壤的生产力较低。只有当生物燃料作物的净利润比目前的作物更好时，家庭才会对种植生物燃料作物感兴趣。良好的土地质量、较大的耕地面积和联合家庭生物能源作物生产的风险相对较小。贫困线以上的家庭 (77.8%) 表示年收入超过 10,000 印度卢比。较低的识字率表明 5-15% 的成员为了临时的季节性生计而迁出村庄。这些地区与公路连接良好，有足够频率的国有和私人车辆、铁路、政府邮政服务、移动电话网络和家庭全时供电，有权进入生物能源市场。利用现有基础设施并采用大规模合作机械化农业、农林系统内的作物轮作、通过政策支持实现粮食、纤维和能源作物的多样化，将带来经济和环境效益以及新市场、创造就业机会和生物能源产业。调查的生态。