Mobilization and Impacts of Bio-Gas Technologies

At present, energy and fertilizer requirements of many of the developing countries are largely met by locally available, non-commercial sources, such as firewood and farm wastes. Extensive use of firewood is one of the factors that can lead to deforestation. When organic farm wastes are burnt, soil nutrients, which should return to soil, are lost and this can severely affect agricultural production. The problem of efficient utilization of these locally available resources, therefore, needs to be studied in a systematic manner. As an option for efficient utilization of local resources, bio-gas plants are considered, taking India as a case study. In these plants, animal dung and agricultural byproducts are utilized to obtain both methane and fertilizer through anaerobic fermentation. This is an example of appropriate technology for rural environments, which requires low investment, which does not need highly skilled labor and which can be operated with local materials and self-help in the 576,000 villages of India. The economic benefits to a family using a bio-gas plant and the impact of its widespread acceptance on a national scale are evaluated. It is felt, however, that the scope of such individual family bio-gas plants is likely to be limited for a number of reasons. To realize the potential of bio-gas fully, village plants of about 200 cubic meter capacity for approximately 100 families are needed. (Reprint from Energy, Vol. 2, pp. 441-455. Pergamon Press 1977.

Simulation of Macroeconomic Scenarios to Assess the Energy Demand for India (SIMA)

The use of the SIMA model within the energy modeling effort at IIASA reflects the desire to treat the special considerations of developing regions with as much care as possible. In particular, the treatment of economic profile and prospects of one developing country with this econometric model can lead towards a greater understanding of energy requirements in the face of alternative economic scenarios. The alternative paths selected for use with the SIMA model include a greater intensification of agriculture, increasing aid, and stepped-up investments and exports (to generate high economic growth). The SIMA model focuses on the central issues of capital availability and sources of export earnings for building up the domestic energy sector. Also considered explicitly are the uses of noncommercial energy and the extent and pace of rural electrification characteristic of developing economies

Building Technological Capability for Self-Reliance

In spite of a clear national commitment, the strong political will of the two major prime-ministers, the input of a huge amount of resources over the past three decades, and a cultural background where the "brahminical achievements" of R&D are highly valued, we still have a long way to go before a scientific attitude and approach are instilled into our society. This is obvious when one considers the national reaction to the total eclipse of the sun on February 16, 1980

Exploring National Food Policies in an International Setting: The Food and Agriculture Program of IIASA

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), a nongovernmental multidisciplinary international research institution, provide: an excellent setting in which to undertake a research effort to explore national and international food policy options. The Food and Agriculture Program (FAP) of IIASA, initiated in 1976, was conceived with recognition of the importance of interdependence and an appreciation of the unique advantages offered by IIASA. The experience so far has borne out these feelings

Food and Energy Choices for India: A Model for Energy Planning with Endogenous Demand

This paper explores India's choices in the food and energy sectors over the coming decades. For a poor, large and densely populated country like India, many choices in energy intensive sectors are still open, as the present level of energy consumption is low and large resources are not yet committed to particular technologies. The choices in energy supply and energy intensive sectors can be explored simultaneously. Also, this will determine a substantial part of the demand for energy. The model explores the choices available for the development of Indian agriculture in order to see whether development should be land intensive, irrigation intensive, or fertilizer intensive. Since land can also be used for growing firewood, irrigation needs energy, and since fertilizer feedstocks are also important fuels, these choices are explored together with choices in energy supply and energy-intensive uses

From Hunger Amidst Abundance to Abundance Without Hunger

This report presents an overview of the policy findings of IIASA's Food and Agriculture Program. This study is not primarily set up to derive detailed prescriptive policy scenarios, but is concerned with a better understanding of the effectiveness of various policy instruments. The presentation follows these lines and demonstrates the consequences of alternative policies without judging their political feasibility. This is deemed appropriate, in particular, because in the actual policy debate a large role is played by fears of the consequences of policy changes and their costs, which stifle the decision-making process. By estimating these consequences as objectively as possible, even for rather radical policy changes, some of these fears may, in fact, be allayed and the actual decision-making process facilitated

Estimation of Farm Supply Response and Acreage Allocation: A Case Study of Indian Agriculture

This report presents empirical estimations of Indian farmer's land allocation decisions. Farmers' decisions about what crops to grow and on how much land are modeled to be rational and consistent with utility maximization in the context of opportunities and expectations about future rain fall, yields, and prices. The authors find application of the conventional adaptive expectation Nerlovian model to Indian data to be inappropriate; specification of the price expectation in this model is inadequate because it implies that farmers do not distinguish between trends and occasional random shocks. This report differs from the conventional approach in 1. Using expected revenue instead of expected prices as a proxy for expected profits. 2. Using auto-regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model to model crop revenue expectations. The revenue expectation functions, estimated separately, are used to compute revenues relative to those of major competing crops, which are identified on the basis of sowing and harvesting periods. The estimated acreage response equations are also tested in a validation exercise for 16 major Indian crops