Sorghum Advanced in India as Alternative Biofuel. By Stephen Leahy, IPS, May 13, 2008. "Biofuels are widely blamed for driving food prices higher, sparking food riots in many countries. At least 25 percent of the U.S. maize crop is diverted to biofuel, and extensive areas in Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Brazil are also devoted to growing fuel rather than food. With sweet sorghum, however, only the stalks are used for biofuel production, while the grain is saved for food or livestock feed. It is not in high demand in the global food market, and thus has little impact on food prices and food security... 'We consider sweet sorghum an ideal... crop because it produces food as well as fuel,' said William Dar, director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)... ICRISAT worked with nearly 800 farmers in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and Rusni Distilleries to build the world's first commercial bioethanol plant running on sorghum, which began operations in June 2007. Locally produced sweet sorghum is also used as feedstock... But does sweet sorghum avoid all of the documented problems of other biofuels such as clearing forests for cropland, depleting and polluting soil and other resources?... Fortunately, badly-needed international standards for sustainable biofuel production and processing are expected to be released this June. Non-governmental organizations, companies, governments and inter-governmental groups from all over the world are close to agreement, says Charlotte Opal of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels at the Energy Centre of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland."
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