A clean and green concept is put forward by the ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (ICAR-CTCRI) at Sreekaryam. It is said to be a ‘waste to wealth’ concept. It is nine years after developing a biopesticide from tapioca leaves, CTCRI scientists have chanced upon a method to produce biogas from the biopesticide effluent. “Theoretically, it is possible to produce biogas from normal plant leaves. But the pretreatment process is expensive. We’ve been able to produce enough biogas to burn for two hours from 8 kg of leaves used for the biopesticide production,” said. C.A. Jayaprakas, principal scientist (Entomology), and head, Division of Crop Protection, ICAR-CTCRI.
Jayaprakash said, ” a preliminary analysis of the biogas has revealed sufficient methane content”. Scientists at the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Pappanamcode, where the analysis was performed, said the gas had been subjected to a preliminary study. The CTCRI had developed a biopesticide from tapioca leaves in 2010, which, over the years, has become popular with the farmers. It was done with technical support from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and financial backing from the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, and the Agriculture Department.
The Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam (VFPCK) inked an agreement with the CTCRI for marketing three CTCRI biopesticide brands — Nanma, Menma and Shreya — among farmers in the State, recently. Dr.Jayaprakash said that this concept will be favorable in many aspects.
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