The central government is focusing on making ethanol so that the dependence on petroleum imports is reduced somewhat. The money that is being given to other countries for oil should go to the farmers and sugar mills of our country. From April 1, 2023, 20 percent ethanol will be mixed in petrol. Right now it is around 10 percent. Uttar Pradesh will have a big contribution in this mission.

From the year 2018-19 to 2020-21 i.e. in the last three years, Uttar Pradesh has produced the highest number of 1320400 kilo liters of ethanol in the country, which is a record in itself. On the other hand, Maharashtra is far behind UP by producing 911800 kilo liters. Uttar Pradesh is the largest sugarcane producing state of the country. It produces about 179 million tonnes of sugarcane annually. Which is about 45 percent of the country.

Ethanol is a type of alcohol that is mixed with petrol and used as fuel in vehicles. It is mainly prepared from sugarcane, maize and rice. Ethanol is not only good for the economy but it is also a relief for the sugar industry. The domestic consumption of sugar in the country is currently around 260 lakh tonnes. While the production of sugar is about 330 lakh tonnes. This causes cash loss to the mills. The solution to this problem has been found in the form of ethanol. From the year 2017-18 to 2019-20, sugar mills had collected about 22 thousand crore rupees by selling ethanol to oil companies.

How much sugar was converted into ethanol?
Union Minister of State for Food and Public Distribution Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, in response to a question in the Lok Sabha, said that in 2020-21, a record 22 lakh tonnes of sugar was converted into ethanol. Earlier, 9.26 lakh tonnes of sugar was converted into ethanol in 2019-20 and 3.37 lakh tonnes in 2018-19. Production of ethanol will help in timely payment of cane arrears.

What is the status of ethanol production in the country
According to the details given by the Central Government in the Lok Sabha, 2955400 kilo liters of ethanol was produced in 2020-21. Whereas in 2018-19 it was only 1885500 lakh tonnes. From the year 2018-19 to 2020-21, a total of 65,71,400 kilo liters were produced in the country. The highest producing states include Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab. Their distilleries supplied it to oil companies for blending with petrol under the Ethanol Blended with Petrol (EBP) program.