An article in the New Indian Express reports that scientists from the World Agroforestry Centre plan to visit the state of Karnataka in the south west of India during the National Conference on Accelerating Biofuel being organized by the Karnataka State Biofuel Development Board (KSBD).

The ‘Karnataka model’ involves encouraging farmers to cultivate crops for biofuel on the periphery of their farms. According to KSBDB Managing Director, A K Monappa, this is a farmer-centric approach as it is voluntary.

While in India, the model involves just growing one biofuel crop, in Africa a multi-species approach is generally taken to growing crops for biofuel.

The conference will discuss the differing experiences in Indian states with biofuels, how to achieve critical volume in biomass and value chain management. It is aimed at gaining feedback from stakeholders to analyze the possibility of adopting programs such as that operating in Karnataka at the national level.

Read the full story: State's Biofuel Model Gets Global Interest