GULBARGA: The Government has prepared a master plan to bring under-utilised and unutilised plots of land under cultivation of plants providing bio-fuel.

It is estimated that around 13.5 lakh hectares of arid and semi-arid land are lying unutilised or under-utilised owing to several reasons. Most of this expanse of land is located in the steppe of drought-prone areas of north Karnataka.

Jatropha, maize, jowar, neem, and pongamia have been identified as plants that provide a good amount of bio-fuel.

Official sources told The Hindu here on Sunday that the technical know- how and expertise in the cultivation of the bio-fuel plants were available in the University of Agricultural Science in Bangalore and Dharwad. Much research had been done in this field and the Government need not invest anything more on research and development activities, they said.

On an average, cultivation of bio-fuel plants provide around 160 mandays a year and a net income ranging Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 9,000 a hectare.

The Government proposes to bring under bio-fuel plant cultivation about 10 lakh hectares of wasteland in the State, particularly in North Karnataka districts and the "southern scarcity zone."

The Government has also prepared a plan to establish bio-fuel extraction and processing units for those who take up bio fuel plant cultivation.

Hassan, Bijapur, Bidar, Tumkur, Kolar, Chitradurga, Koppal and Raichur have been identified as centres for establishing bio-fuel processing units.

Sources said the Government would soon introduce a programme for encouraging farmers in the cultivation of bio fuel plants.

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