Transcription
I'm Dr. Bti, an agriculture scientist. For the last 20 years, I've been working in bamboo. Who can do bamboo, and why is it a special crop for farmers? Today's main problem of farmers is shortage of labor, perishable products—anything which you're harvesting immediately to rush to the market to sell it—and highly varying prices. Then the bamboo can be harvested after 3 years, anytime in the month. It could be January, February, March, April—anytime you can harvest. Single-time harvest or multiple—you can do multiple harvests; you can do harvests every year, or you can harvest it once in 2-3 years' time. So what is carbon credit? One ton of carbon dioxide collected is called one certified emission reduction unit (CERU). One liter of petrol is converted to 2.2 kg of carbon dioxide. Between Delhi and Jaipur, the amount of traffic is so much that, if you plant 13 rows of bamboo on one side and another 13 rows of bamboo on the other side, the entire road becomes a carbon-neutral road, a net-zero road.
Video in English. Today's video will be in English. We're with Dr. Bti, who has more than 37 years of experience. Sir, yes, sir. 37 years of experience in a lot of crops, but today he's doing something very, very interesting, and that is bamboo farming. Today's video, we will learn from him; I will learn from him, and you will learn with me about bamboo farming. It is a huge opportunity in the coming years for multiple reasons, which we will discuss in the video. Wait, others, watch the video till the very end. This will be a very informative video. So, sir, thank you for doing this. My pleas, could you briefly just introduce yourself and what you do for the audience, please?
Yes. Good morning to all of you. I'm Dr. Barti. I'm an agriculture scientist working in agriculture for the last past 40 years, and out of which, for the last 20 years, I've been working in bamboo. Bamboo—when I say working, I'm working for propagation; I'm working for cultivation of bamboo on a large scale—and working with bamboo to convert it into high-end products like ethanol, which is needed very much in India at the moment; to produce electricity out of the bamboo; to produce biochar out of the bamboo, charcoal out of the bamboo; and, off late, we are working to produce biofuel like petrol, diesel, and aviation fuel out of the bamboo. And, off late, we are working very much in carbon credit out of the bamboo, right.
So I think, sir, you mentioned a lot of the points which we'll discuss in detail, but let's start from the basics. As a crop, a lot of farmers want to know what are the new things they can do. So why is bamboo a special crop? I know there are a lot of benefits to the environment. Who can do bamboo, and why is it a special crop for farmers? Farmers today, they are used to many agriculture crops. Bamboo is not an agriculture crop; it is wild in the forest; it's not able to really get cultivated on a large scale. But the moment you are able to grow bamboo as a crop, today's main problem of farmers is shortage of labor, perishable products—anything which you're harvesting immediately to rush to the market to sell it—and the price—highly varying price. In all these three in India, is taken care of at the moment. For example, the bamboo: when you plant it, you need, at the time of planting, a lot of people to work, laborers to work; and once they start growing, then you don't need so many numbers of laborers. Understood now? Then the bamboo can be harvested after 3 years, any time in the month. It could be January, February, March, April—anytime you can harvest. It's not perishable, as for the market demand, we can harvest the bamboo. Single-time harvest or multiple—you can do multiple harvests; you can do harvests every year, or you can harvest it once in 2-3 years' time. There are two types of three types of harvests; I'll explain you later on the methodology. Now, bamboo is not perishable, so you can always collect bamboo anytime you want, as for the demand of the market. Then the third one, the price: bamboo as a fuel in India, the government of India fixed a minimum price for bamboo (bas pellet) as 9,600 rupees per ton of bamboo—but ton of pellets—which is not there for many products, but it's there for rice; it's there for sugar; but it's not there for apples; it's not there for oranges; it is not there for, uh, you know, common fruits, flowers; but for bamboo as a pellet, the bamboo price has been fixed. Now that price is able to make the bamboo very attractive for farmers to do it. Today, all India, we are using coal, something like, uh, we are using 1,000 million tons of coal. We are using it. This 1,000 million tons of coal, the government of India wants to reduce the emission, carbon dioxide emission; they want to bring it down by at least 5% last year, and that happens to be 50 million tons (500 lakh tons). The, uh, if you want to replace coal, you need bamboo to be grown at least in an area of not less than 12.5 lakh acres. That's a huge area you need for growing bamboo. Now, this is only at a 5% level. Now, the government of India now changed to 7% this year. All the thermal projects have to be replacing that. Now, years to come, in 2025, it is 20%. At 20%, we need 50 lakh acres of bamboo plantation. Once planted, it's going to be harvested continuously. Now, this area is more than sugarcane area in the country. This is only for—I'm talking only for coal at the moment—but similarly, similar to coal, when you're making petrol, many numbers of many acres are needed. You can convert them into lumbers; you can convert them into textile material; you can convert them into carbon credit. All these needs huge area.
Okay, let's—can we understand how, like you're mentioning bamboo has all these benefits, yeah, but like it's being used for carbon credit. We'll discuss those terms, but how is bamboo able to do that? What makes the crop special, exactly? Now, there are everything, even this—this croton is a crop; even the palm tree is a crop; ficus is a crop—but all these are growing at a particular speed. All are doing photosynthesis. It's the photosynthesis—nothing but the sun's energy is collected—at that time they take the carbon dioxide; they take the water molecule, make a carbohydrate. And now this process of photosynthesis is collecting the carbon dioxide, called carbon sequestration. This carbon is sequestered. The process of collecting carbon dioxide, collecting carbon dioxide, breaking the carbon dioxide into carbon separately, oxygen separately, so the plant is able to collect the carbon, put it in the tissue as carbon; oxygen is released out. That's the reason any plant is releasing the carbon, oxygen outside. Now, bamboo also does the same thing, but the bamboo is growing at a speed of 1 1/2 ft a day and 2 ft per day. Exactly, not inches, every day—1 1/2 ft, 1 1/2 ft, 1 1/2 ft. It reaches the full height of 35 to 40 ft in a matter of 1 month. Wow. So this speed is the one which makes the bamboo to collect the carbon dioxide faster than many plants, grass does it, tree does it, cotton does it, but then the bamboo does it very, very fast, very, very speed. The reason being, is a highly evolved plant in nature. Fortunately, India is blessed with a lot of bamboo. We have an area over 16.5 million hectares in bamboo. The whole world has got only 36 million hectares. More than half we have in India. Wow. But what has happened is we have bamboo which are slow-growing bamboo, not hybrid bamboo. We are not cultivating the bamboo; we've not converted the bamboo into a crop. Today, technologies are available to make such wonderful bamboo into a large number of plants through tissue culture. And after getting the tissue culture plant, we need to cultivate them like a sugarcane or like a—how we do a rose in a greenhouse. So we don't need a greenhouse, but then we can cultivate with drip irrigation, fertigation, and give the right amount of nutrients. The bamboo grows very, very fast, and the advantage is you can—after that it has multiple applications. Exactly, not one application, multiple applications. No part in the bamboo is bad—either the leaf or a stem or a branch or a culm or a root—everything is used today.
So what I'm understanding is, so because the growth rate is so high, yeah, it's using up more carbon and it's giving out more oxygen as a result. Exactly correct. Because of which it has a lot of benefits for the environment as well. Exactly. In terms of numbers, one bamboo plant—what you see now is one big bamboo plant—that's one bamboo, yeah. This one big bamboo—how is that, sir? This is around 20 years old now. Okay. Now, this bamboo, even after four or five years over, they start sequestering the carbon. One tree is able to collect 450 kg of carbon dioxide every year. Wow. And this 450 kg of carbon dioxide, out of that, it takes away the carbon, and the oxygen is released, which is 320 kg. 320 kg does not make much sense to us, but this is what you need. One human being to breathe—one human being for the whole year, we are breathing 280 kg of carbon dioxide only. That means one oxygen. Now, that oxygen is coming from one tree. So if I put one bamboo tree, then I'm getting enough oxygen for a—exactly, in a house, five of us, five trees, you're saturated with oxygen in the house. You know, we all become very aware when Corona came, especially when it attacked, we all needed high amounts of oxygen. The bamboo is able to produce so much amount of oxygen, and this oxygen—that's the reason today we are making many oxygen parks in India as with of bamboo. We have made one in the Agriculture University, Katuri, and we have made one in an industrial town like Chennai, where, uh, in the Sipcot industry area, they made one bamboo. Now you see them. This entire bamboo stretch, what you're seeing, when you go through that, the level of oxygen is 30%. Wow. The whole world has got only 20.9%. In a city, the main road—Bangalore or Chennai or Hyderabad—the level of oxygen has come down to 14%. And that's a place where we go for a walk—14% oxygen against this 30% oxygen. You're able to breathe better because of bamboo. The oxygen has become a byproduct for the bamboo when it is growing. So carbon is sequestered; oxygen is exhaled, which is not essential for the plant, but it's good for us, all of us.
So I was reading—now, like even across the sides of the roads, a lot of people are saying that if you plant bamboos, then the level of pollution from the vehicles can reduce. Exactly correct. Exactly correct. Now we can make a carbon-neutral road. What happens when a—when a—when a vehicle is passing through, it's consuming the petrol or diesel. One liter of petrol is converted to 2.2 kg of carbon dioxide. One liter of petrol into 2.2 kg of carbon dioxide. Exactly. Now that is what every car is emitting, every bike is emitting, every autorickshaw is emitting on the road. So actually, if you see that along the road, the level of carbon dioxide is very, very high because the energy is released, converted into carbon dioxide. Now, planting the trees, plants, and the bamboo along the road is able to collect the carbon dioxide. So we have done a calculation of how much amount of emission on the road and how many rows of bamboo to be done. Between Delhi and Jaipur, the amount of traffic is so much that, if you plant 13 rows of bamboo on one side and another 13 rows of bamboo on the other side, the entire road becomes a carbon-neutral road, a net-zero road. Plus, when you put the window down, you're going to get oxygen instead of the previous vehicles' carbon dioxide in the car. We all think, in the car, we thought we're getting fresh air; it's not fresh air; it's the previous vehicles' carbon dioxide polluted air coming inside. There are many benefits. Why are more people not doing bamboo cultivation? Why is the government not pushing it as much, like what I hear? It's a magical crop in many ways. Yes. So what do you think is the reason it's not reached more people or more farmers, let's say you're watching this video, why are they not doing it as yet? Right. You know, bamboo potential is not known to the agriculture sector so far, but it is an agriculture crop, is it? It's an agriculture crop, but all these years it was held by the Ministry of Forestry. Okay. Many people think that bamboo is a forestry plant, but our—our prime minister, Narendra Modiji, he first—when he—when he has taken over, the first thing is what he's done is he has changed it from forestry to agriculture. Okay. Bamboo has moved from forestry now to agriculture. Exactly. It is taken care of by the Ministry of Agriculture, not anymore by the Ministry of Forest. Now, the idea is to convert bamboo into a cultivable crop. That's the reason he's done it. So anyone who wants to cultivate it can just—exactly. And he also developed a program mission called National Bamboo Mission with a lot of funds for each state to be planted, agriculture farmers to be done. This money is all directed through the agriculture department, agriculture department, to the farmers as subsidy. Maharashtra is doing a wonderful job in this, in bamboo plantation, in bamboo plantation. They also developed something called Maharashtra Bamboo Development Board, like a coffee board, like a tea board. There's a Maharashtra Bamboo Development Board is there, and they are connected to the farmers; they are giving lakhs and lakhs of plants to the farmers and guiding them how to plant it. And we are one of the main suppliers for them. We are supplying the plants of all different, different species. We are giving a Bea bamboo; we are giving *Dendrocalamus strictus*, sorry, *Dendrocalamus strictus* and bamboo, *Bambusa tulda*, and *Bambusa vulgaris* species, like very, very special bamboo for a coniferous area. We also do tissue culture; we give to them so different types of species of bamboo as per the requirement is provided to the farmers. This year, a lot of farmers are taking mutant plants. So different species have been taken by farmers, planted, and they also likely to connect the farmers to the buyers. You do that? No, the board is going to do that. Great. Okay. Yeah. Right now, we are working with different bigger companies like Tata Chemicals and with Hindustan Lever, and there is one more, uh, power production company in Chennai. So we are connecting them to the farmers; the farmers—the—the—the company themselves are planting the bamboo, and the farmers also planting bamboo through them, so the entire bamboo will be bought by them at a fixed price, and it's a total buyback arrangement we have; we're creating it. So for which, what we are giving is the best quality planting material and the right method to cultivate it, so that the farmers are getting the highest yield out of the bamboo. Understood?
So let's talk a little bit about the varieties. BMA bamboo is something you have created; you say it's like your child. What is so special about this bamboo variety as compared to other bamboo varieties? Right. You know, when I took—took over the bamboo 20 years back, I found out there are a couple of problems, drawbacks with the bamboo—low yield. The yield of bamboo is hardly 1 to 2 tons per acre, 1 to 2 tons per acre per year. So which we want to change it. So we were looking for a high-yielding plant. Then I found out *Bambusa balcooa* in the Northeast—very thick wall—but then there are a lot of variations among the bamboo of *B. balcooa*. So we tried, looked at which is the clone, which is the plant which is doing the best, and I collected, brought it to South India, tried it here in South India nearly for four years, different cultivation methodologies, and found out that this bamboo is doing good. Then I named it as BMA bamboo in the year 2007, and from then onwards, everybody started planting, growing it, and all that. So what is the difference between the normal bamboo to this? There is no THS in it. This is one such bamboo, the Bea bamboo; you can see them; there is no THS in it. Okay. So no snakes will come. Normally bamboo means snakes will come, is it? Yeah. THS are there; they go inside; they sit inside. So people have got an aversion towards bamboo. Now, yeah, there's no THS, no snakes coming in it, number one. Number two, the height is very, very high. Number three, it responds very well to agriculture practices like irrigation, fertilizer application, pest spraying, and all that. So now normal bamboo doesn't spread, doesn't respond to that; that's the reason the yield is not increasing. What is the yield for Bea bamboo in one acre? Bea bamboo, cultivated properly with the fertilizer, irrigation, everything—40 dry tons per acre per year. So you're saying that is 1 to 2 tons, and this is 40 tons? Exactly. Exact. The real potential, the theoretical potential, Bea bamboo is over 80 tons. I'm practically telling farmers only 40 tons. 40 tons. There are farmers, places where we have received, we got even up to 60 tons for the—and what's the market rate of bamboo generally? So for a farmer, farm-gate—for a farm-gate price is 5,000 rupees minimum, 10,000 rupees highest per ton of bamboo, per ton. Okay. Per ton—5,000 rupees. Even at 5,000 rupees, he can—4 to 5 lakhs per acre. 40 tons will make 2 lakh rupees. 2 lakh; his expenditure will be 50,000 rupees per acre. So 1 1/2 lakh rupees will be net profit for it, per acre, per acre, every year. This is simple bamboo without discussing all the additional benefits. Exactly. Exactly. And the farmer could be absent then a lot. Today, farmers have to go to the field, cultivate everything, take care of the pests, diseases, everything. Here, the farmer could be absent, a landlord; he could go to other places, come back, and then it's a non-perishable product. So that's the greatest help for the farmers, because the next generation is not looking to agriculture. The farmer's son won't like to go to the city, do some IT job, some, uh, job in other factories and fact things like that, not in agriculture. Now this is—now once the bamboo is planted, it's a permanent crop for the next 100-200 years; you don't need to replant them at all. I can keep harvesting. That's right. That's right. Generally, bamboo doesn't do that. Generally, bamboo will—will grow for 10, 20, 30 years' time; they produce a flower, they produce seed, they die. I have developed the BMA bamboo, which will also produce flowers due to stress and other factors, but it won't produce seed; it will not die at all, provided we give the right water, right amount of nutrient, right amount of care to the plant. And so this 1.5 lakhs per acre is per year or how—how—of? Per year. Every year. Every year. Every year. So if I'm in 10 acres, I can earn up to 15 lakhs. Exactly. 10 acres is going to be good money—better than an IT job. Wow. This is only a raw material, but if you convert the bamboo into a carbon credit yourself, by converting bamboo, grow the bamboo, convert the biochar, and put them in the soil, apply for the carbon credit collected with the farmer of 200 acres together, then easy to apply, then every acre will generate 10 lakh rupees as on today. So what is carbon credit? Can you just simplify that for the audience? A lot of the people might not be knowing what carbon credit is.
Yes. The carbon credit is—is a process by which—uh—you are collecting the carbon, sinking the carbon, and somebody is emitting the carbon dioxide. When somebody is producing electricity, every ton of coal is converting into 2.2 tons of carbon dioxide, so that person is emitting carbon dioxide. The agriculture field is collecting the carbon dioxide. So now somebody's emission is called emission factor; somebody collecting is a collection factor. Now this you can equate through a formula called carbon dioxide credit, carbon credit. The carbon credit is—somebody who's avoided the carbon dioxide or somebody who captured the carbon dioxide is given a credit for every ton of carbon dioxide captured, credit as in he gets money, money. Now, one ton of carbon dioxide collected is called one certified emission reduction unit (CERU). One CERU is sold in the market, depending on the type of carbon credit. It could be $3 per carbon credit, $10 per carbon credit, $20 per carbon credit. If it is biochar, it becomes $200 per carbon. So you're saying from one acre, how many CERUs can I get? Exactly. Now, if you're just growing bamboo, Bea bamboo, the BMA bamboo can capture 88 tons of carbon dioxide, 88 tons per acre, per acre. 88 CERUs. But then what happens? You're applying fertilizer; you're making the tractor to go, do the plowing; people are working; all that will do the emission. So net emission, net reduction will be 80 CERUs. 80 CERUs. You are getting a green carbon credit, which is only sold at the moment on the market at $5. So 80 into 5, we get only once. But then, uh, you collect the bamboo, give it to somebody who's burning the coal, replace the coal with bamboo, then for every ton of carbon dioxide avoided, you are getting $18 per ton of carbon dioxide, which is more than the $5. $18 is for the biochar, no? $18 for the avoided carbon dioxide, just the biomass. Now, if you convert—taking the bamboo, convert it with the biochar—I'll show you the biochar of this—and biochar, take, make it powder, put it in the soil for cultivation, so that is going to increase the fertility, increase the water holding capacity, increase the microorganisms; it's able to rectify the soil and make it fertile. You increase the soil carbon as well. Exactly. The biggest problem is soil organic carbon. Exactly, exactly. It increases C:N ratio. You know C:N ratio—the carbon should be increased—so the carbon, it will increase the carbon. Now, all this—it's a benefit to the farmer. Let's keep this aside for the amount of carbon which you applied from one acre of bamboo, one acre of B—of bamboo, which is around 14 tons of carbon dioxide, 14 tons of—sorry, 14 tons of biochar, which is equivalent to 50 tons of carbon dioxide. 14 tons of biochar, 50 tons of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide, 50 tons of carbon dioxide is equal to 50—50 CERUs. Hmm. One CERU today is $200—not today, last year, $200 in Europe; this year is $250 per Europe. You can just go to the internet, check it up—biochar carbon dioxide credit. So this is only for the biochar carbon dioxide. Bi—now, other one you mentioned was regular carbon credit, that is around $5. $5. $5 or $18 or $200. $18 was for the—for the replacement of fuels, fuels. Okay. So $5 for regular carbon dioxide, $18 for replacement of fuel, and $200 for biochar, biochar. Now, $200 means one acre has got 50 carbon credits, 50 CERUs into 200, which is $10,000. $10,000 is nothing but 8 lakh Indian rupees per acre, per acre. Now to do this, you need to cultivate the bamboo, that will cost you 50,000 rupees. Convert the bamboo into biochar, that will cost you another 50,000 rupees per acre. How does one do that, sir? Uh, there's a machine called a pyrolysis machine, and then where you—you don't burn the bamboo, but you—you—you heat the bamboo to a level that it's able to get converted into charcoal that doesn't increase the emission; it—it—it releases emission; it is net this after that. Because if I remember, I told you that 88 tons of carbon dioxide captured by the bamboo. Okay. Okay. Net minus. Now what happens at the time it's getting released, and finally, still available is 50 tons for me. 50 tons is sold at a higher price, so I get 10,000, uh, dollars per acre because of the biochar. There is emission of 30 tons from one acre of bamboo; it's gone, but left out is 50 tons. Net is 50 tons. Net is 50 tons profit in sense. Exactly. Exactly. So the net 50 tons of carbon dioxide at a price of $200—last year's price; this year is 250—at that itself is 8 lakh rupees per acre, to the 8 to 10 lakh rupees. Yeah. Now, 8 lakh rupees is the income; expenditure 50,000 for growing the bamboo for 1 acre, 50,000 to convert it and apply and get the carbon credit, that will cost me, maybe if it is a large scale 50,000, a smaller scale 1 lakh rupees. So both together, 2 lakh is gone. So out of that 8 lakh rupees, 2 lakh expenditure, 6 lakh is net profit. How do I apply for this carbon credit? So like, say someone's watching this video, they want to take this step. One, they've grown, let's say...
All of that is done, but how do I apply for the carbon credit part? Yes, this before we started; we have to, uh, approach the verification agencies internationally. There are a couple of agencies there; Vera is one, which is doing it for biochar in a big way from us. Vera will do that whether it is 10 acre, 100 acre, 200 acre, 2,000 acres; it's going to charge the same thing. So, better to combine all our farmer, everybody with 5 acres, 10 acres together—it's a 200-acre model—and apply for one application as a cooperative.
Mhm. So that's going to be only one application; one application, 200-acre farmers together, they can do that. Now, for that, they will take initially what is the—what is the level of carbon? As you rightly said, the carbon, how much amount of carbon in the soil? In the soil, they'll take it up. Then, after we apply, what is the increase in the carbon level? They have to take it, and that's what they give a certificate saying that, okay, now this organization has applied so much amount of biochar, which is increased the carbon to carbon soil carbon. It can increase that faster.
Yeah, yeah. How long does it take to increase when you apply it? Like, you know, when the when the bamboo is grown for, uh, 3 years, you're able to collect a bamboo of 40 tons. The 40 tons is when you convert it, becomes a 14 tons of biochar. The 14 tons of biochar is going into the 1 acre of soil. Now, by taking one square meter, they will know how much amount of biochar you applied. So then they multiply for the entire 4,000 square meters, then they'll tell you, okay, this how much of biochar has gone, which is equivalent to carbon dioxide of 50 tons. 50 tons. Now we get a trading certificate for 50 tons. So this 50 tons is salable in the market. Now, if I do only one single 50 tons, it's very expensive, but if I do a collective 200 acres, 300 acres, 400 acres of farmers together, then it's very cost-effective.
Understood. Understood. So let's go inside; we can discuss the tissue culture part and other applications which have the most potential with bamboo. Okay, guys. So now we are inside S's room, where we're going to see the multiple applications of bamboo and further understand how, for power generation, for coal replacement, for ethanol production, there are many, many uses. So if more and more farmers will come up, they always have a much wider market open for them. So, so can we start off a lot of products here? Can you start briefly by explaining the relevance of bamboos to these products?
Bamboo is the one which is used for many applications. One of the common applications what we use at home is agarbati. This agarbati, what you see here, is made with the masala, fragrance everything, but the base stick is always bamboo. This stick here is bamboo; this stick is a bamboo; okay, this stick is a bamboo; and this stick is, uh, you know, the bamboo, uh, they take the longitudinal sections of this and make the sticks. And then, once the stick is made, it comes as a bundle like this. This stick is—this is a small stick which is there of bamboo. In fact, last year and last year, the amount of stick what we need is not available in India; we were importing it from China and Vietnam—bamboo sticks, bamboo sticks. It's only now we are trying to make as much as possible in India, but still we're importing the sticks. Mh, the stick which is imported is costing almost, um, you know, [Music] um, 1.2 lakh rupees a ton for these sticks. The government of India put a little more duty so that people will start stopping the import of the bamboo and they'll make it in India. That's so there are a lot of species suitable for this. So we started planting a lot of Tulta bamboo species for this. TTA bamboo, Tula bamboo, which has got a long internode. When I say internode, this is called internode between two bamboo sections is called internode; the distance, the space for that Tilda bamboo is longer, so that we can make more number of sticks. So this bamboo normally available in regions like, you know, Northeastern region like Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and all is available, but then now they started growing in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, all the other states also; they planted. So these bamboos are highly suitable for incense stick making. Incense stick is—is—is known to many public at the moment, yeah, but then the quantity what is needed is very less, uh, not in very bulk volume we need it. That's the reason we were looking at other sectors. And when we went to China, we saw people are making bamboo keyboards—keyboard, functional keyboard. It's got a battery; we have to put the battery in there, and they start working. It's a wireless keyboard, and this—this bamboo—this needs at least, uh, uh, 1 kilo of bamboo to make this keyboard. 1 kilo of bamboo. 1 kg. Is this cheaper than regular keyboard or more expensive? At the moment, it's expensive, but it's environmentally friendly, sustain—friendly; sustainability is very high. So it's—it's it works very well, and it's good for the—the health and then for the finger and all that. Now, not only keyboard, they also make the mouse, like mouse. Wow. It's got the similar to all that thing is there; it has got, uh, uh, you know, it's alive; it gets connected wirelessly, and it works. Where are these available usually? People buy them—at the moment it's available in China. China. It's not a big, big rocket science to do that; it's a simple like, you know, like our—we have in Bangalore, if you see them on the way to Mysore, we have toy-making companies are there. The toy-making company comfortably they can make this, uh, components easily, and they just fix it on the—the keyboard; it works. So this is one simple material, but which is very popular. And like this, you can make everything; you can make furniture, you can make flooring out of the bamboo, you can make, uh, um, kitchen utensils, like in a kitchen board, you can make everything out of the bamboo, including a, uh, you know, um, visiting card holders or even a comb, plates, bows, everything you can make it, uh, so bamboo you utilize like this is many, but again looking at the volume, it's very low; simple amount of bamboo, amount of bamboo what is needed. I'll tell you as a product; you can look at this is a bamboo toothpick. This bamboo toothpick is small. Now this toothpick, we all buy it something like 25 grams in the market at 25 rupees. 1 gram, 1 rupee; 1 kilo, 1,000 rupees; 1 ton, 10 lakh rupees. I said 1, 2 lakh rupees for the incense. Now this comes to 10 lakh rupees. So the price of the product as you go up, it's going to be increasing, but then unfortunately the market volume is pretty low. So we were looking at energy as a product. How can you use bamboo for energy? Energy. Now this bamboo is a Bea bamboo; it's weighing 2 kg for every 2 feet. 2 kg for every 2 feet. So 1 kg for 1 ft. You can use this for exercise also. That's it. Now this bamboo, 2 kg or let's say 1 kg, 1 kg is required to make one unit of electricity. 1 kg of bamboo is required to make one unit of electricity. That's right. 1 ton of bamboo can make 1 megawatt electricity—10,000—and 1 acre of bamboo with 40 tons, it can make 4,000 units of electricity every year. Is it being used now for electricity? Yes, very much it is used. Okay. It is used in India; it is used in Africa. What's the process? The process is there are two ways of making electricity from the bamboo. One, you burn the bamboo, produce a heat, and with the heat you can—you can, uh, heat the water to a steam, high-pressure steam. The high-pressure steam is going to run a steam turbine; steam turbine will attach to an alternator which produces electricity. That is the number one methodology where you put the bamboo, you get the electricity; the byproduct is only ash. The second methodology is you gasify the bamboo. What is that? In a gasification process, you heat the bamboo to 450° centigrade, and at that temperature there is no oxygen is allowed, so the bamboo doesn't burn; it produces a gas; it produces syngas. The syngas is combustible; that combustible gas goes to a gas engine which operates the engine which is attached to again an alternator which produces electricity. Now when a bamboo is passes through a pyrolysis or a gasification route, it produces a product called charcoal. This is an output of this. That's right. This—the same bamboo shape, same bamboo, same bamboo is converted into charcoal at the same time; it's also releasing heat. The heat is converted into electricity. Now this charcoal—now production out of this makes the electricity carbon-negative electricity. Come generally; we have—we have electricity through coal where you burn the coal; half a ton of coal you burn it, you make 1 megawatt electricity. Now instead, if you go through the solar panels or a—or a—or a—or a windmill, you got electricity which is carbon-neutral, neutral; no emission, no—no sequestration, nothing is taking place; it's neutral; it's called carbon-neutral electricity, net-zero electricity. Now while doing this bamboo through this process called pyrolysis, gasification route where 1 kilo bamboo produces 1 kilowatt current and 100 grams of charcoal makes carbon-negative electricity, so which means it—it's produced electricity which is neutral and also it's captured the previous years' carbon dioxide in the form of charcoal.
Right. Right. This charcoal what it does is—is it's holding the carbon in the form of pure carbon, and you powder it; it becomes biochar. The biochar we put in the soil to the farmer's field, and the farmer's field we can comfortably put four tons of biochar to make a soil fertile. Normally, soil is fertile; it increases the organic carbon in the soil, whereby the C:N ratio is improved better, and the ratio is carbon—carbon-nitrogen ratio, carbon-nitrogen ratio. The that ratio decides the fertility of the soil, and this carbon is able to hold water; it's able to hold microorganisms; it's able to, uh, uh, reduce the unwanted chemicals which are in the soil. For example, some of the soils are not—the soil is good, available, but it's not good for the plant to grow; organic carbon is too low, too low. They call us—there are soils called, uh, alkaline soil, sodic soil; they're all, uh, high in pH, low level of organic carbon, and low level of water-holding capacity, and the plants are not—they find it difficult to grow them in that. So become sodic soil, wasteland, wasted land and all that. Now, by applying this biochar, that soil becomes a normal soil, and bamboo can be easily cultivated in the sodic soil. We have already grown bamboo in sodic soil way back in 2007. Sodic soil is one; the pH is high, very high; high soil content; low water holding—is low; water holding is low. Are very high because if it is a clay soil, they hold very much, too much of water. Yeah, if they are sandy soil, then they don't hold water, but at the same time they have not—the media is not suitable for any crop to be grown. Cultivating bamboo with a biochar, it becomes fertile soil. So the biochar what is come as a byproduct of electricity has got a main use in agriculture, and this is realized in Australia way back in 2005, and they started applying for many plants, including avocado, fruit crops everywhere; they're applying it now. Biochar—through biochar. Now in India, the biochar is also picked up very much; many farmers have come to know about the biochar and they started applying in a large quantity to the field, but availability is restricted. Now bamboo, when you cultivate, after producing electricity, 1 acre will produce 40 units of electricity and 4 tons of biochar. If you say, no, no, no, I don't want to have electricity; I want only biochar which is good for my field to be improved, then we can make 14 tons of biochar from 1 acre, but in that case, I won't have any bamboo; like it'll only biochar. Right, only biochar, no electricity. Yeah, no electricity, only biochar. That biochar, this 14 tons can improve a soil of not less than 3 and a half acres. 1 acre of bamboo field is able to improve a soil for agriculture of 3 and a half acres every year. Can I sell the biochar also? Very well, very well. We can sell the biochar in the market. The biochar, either you can use it for agriculture purpose, but it's got a property of bamboo; when you do go through the gasification route, the surface area of the bamboo increases; charcoal increases. What is surface area? Normal charcoal is got 50 square meters; bamboo through the Bea bamboo we tested in Indian science; they have claimed that 950 square meters per gram, which is like an activated carbon. Okay, charcoal is normal; activated charcoal—activated carbon is higher surface area. Whenever the surface area increases from 50 to 500, they call activated charcoal. The activated charcoal goes up to 2,000 square meters per gram. Now without doing anything, bamboo charcoal directly gives us a surface area of 950 square meters, which means a charcoal becomes—comes directly as activated charcoal. Activated charcoal market price is more than four, five lakh rupees per ton. That is what is used today by the Colgate toothpaste. Activated charcoal—activated charcoal of the bamboo—of the bamboo. Can you just again, for the audience and for me also, just tell the difference between regular charcoal and activated charcoal? What is the main difference again?