Diversification of agricultural produce towards extraction of energy and power will boost rural economy: Nitin Gadkari

The minister said, out of the water received from monsoon, 15% to 20 % water goes to lakes and dams, 15% to 20% gets conserved and 70 % water goes to sea and if 10 % of this water is utilized for irrigation, the state of agriculture produce in this country will improve.

He even stressed on diversification of agriculture towards generation of power, energy and production of plastic will not only boost rural economy , but will even put a positive impact on utilization of fuel and the import of Rs 8 lakh crore crude oil for transportation too will come down.

According to Gadkari, if the purchasing power of the rural community is enhanced, the industries as well as the natural growth rate of economy of the country will enhance.

He said, that it’s his decision to minimize the use of petrol and diesel by utililising ethanol, bio-diesel, bio-CNG and electricity as fuel. Ethanol comes from sugarcane juice via rectified spirit. Ethanol comes from beet sugar as well as corn which are basically plants- produce. He was even positive enough to produce methane from toilet-water, which is a good source of CO2 and is an instance of bio-CNG too for running buses and trucks which is pollution-free too.

Similarly bio-diesel from non-edible oilseeds may also run our transport system almost pollution-free and will also reduce fuel-cost and in turn help in reduction of crude oil Gadkari reiterated.

At the end, the minister once again stressed on changing the crop pattern for not only reducing import of fuel from outside but also enhancing agricultural productivity and in turn increasing rural economy.