Accelerating its efforts to empower farmers by transforming them from food producers to fuel producers, Buyofuel—an online marketplace for green fuels, is enabling them to directly sell their agri-waste for biofuel or alternate fuel production to make commercial profits and contribute to India’s sustainability mission. The company is empowering farmers in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala and will soon expand its reach across other untapped states of the country.
There is a huge demand for alternate fuels from industries which are fast switching to alternate fuels to combat climate change. At this stage, Buyofuel is serving as a link between the alternate fuel producers and the consumers to balance the supply-demand ratio, provide commercial and environmental benefits to farmers, and help companies meet the government mandate of biofuel usage.
As per estimates, India generates about 350 million tonnes of agricultural waste every year which can generate more than 18,000 MW of power every year apart from generating green fertilizer for use in agriculture (Ministry of New & Renewable Energy). There is a high demand for alternative energy sources like biofuel in power plants, logistics fleets, cement manufacturing, steel industry, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure and large foundries. Apart from providing a common platform for buying and selling green fuel in an organised manner, the company is encouraging the farmers to sell their waste to Buyofuel, make commercial benefits and become important players in India’s transition towards clean energy.
“India is leading the global missions to combat the alarming climate challenge. Here, it becomes critical to engage every stakeholder to achieve our sustainable development goals. The agri-tech sector has played a transformative role in empowering farmers and as industries are switching to biofuels, there lies a great opportunity for farmers to sell their agri-waste for alternative fuel production to make profits and help address challenges like air pollution, food wastage and depleting natural resources. With digitalisation, it has become much easier to provide a transparent, open, accessible and direct channel to farmers to connect them with opportunities and the results will be visible soon,” said Kishan Karunakaran, Founder & CEO of Buyofuel.
Replacing conventional fuels with alternate fuels has significant advantages for industries such as reduction in emissions, cost-efficiency, offering better prices and lower dependence on fossil fuel imports. Realising this, Buyofuel is already purchasing agri-waste from farmers such as rice husk, cotton stalk, groundnut shell, coffee husk, soybean residue and others.
