Maharashtra looks at diverting 25% of sugarcane to ethanol

In India, the Mumbai Mirror newspaper reports that Maharashtra, in addition to investing more than $72 million in a fund to promote ethanol production by cooperative mills, is now calling for a minimum of 25% of sugarcane production to be diverted to ethanol instead of sugar. The state’s sugar commissioner believes that the move will help mills to better pay farmers which are owed hundreds of millions of dollars while also helping the government to achieve its ambitious ethanol blending plans of more than 20%.