Assam’s tea gardens make room for bamboo to fuel bioethanol plant

The world’s tallest grass may help some of Assam’s 803 major tea estates and 1.22 lakh registered small tea growers overcome a tough phase.

In August 2022, the government tweaked the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holding Act of 1956 to allow tea gardens to use up to 5% of their land for non-tea purposes. A few tea gardens within a 300-km radius of the world’s first commercial-scale 2G bioethanol plant using bamboo as feedstock, are using the permitted portion of their area for bamboo cultivation.

This ₹4,930-crore plant spread across 43 acres at Numaligarh, about 260 km east of Guwahati, has been established by Assam Bio Ethanol Private Limited (ABEPL), a joint venture of Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), which is a Navaratna public sector undertaking, with the Finland-based Chempolis Oy and Fortum.

ABEPL experts said ethanol production is costlier in a 2G or second-generation plant than a first-generation plant, but ensures food security, is more sustainable, and leaves a lower carbon footprint. While 1G ethanol is produced from food crops using simple fermentation, 2G ethanol is derived from non-food farm waste or residue.

“We pursued the bioethanol project after research in Finland showed that freshly harvested bamboo, chipped to a specific size, can be a sustainable substitute for food crops. And we are located at the centre of a region that is the largest producer of several bamboo species,” an NRL spokesperson said.

The ABEPL streamlined the bamboo supply chain much before Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the bioethanol plant to the nation in September 2025.

“We need five lakh metric tonnes of green bamboo to produce 49,000 metric tonnes of ethanol annually, apart from furfural, acetic acid, liquid CO₂, and bio-coal for our 25MW captive power plant,” a specialist said.

The ABEPL has registered some 4,200 of a targeted 30,000 bamboo farmers across 26 districts of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, and Nagaland. They are, however, not enough to meet the plant’s annual intake.

This is where the tea gardens, especially those with land to spare for non-tea activities such as tourism and horticulture, have come in. “Some tea gardens have started planting bamboo. Our members are also thinking of doing it,” Bidyananda Barkakoty, the adviser of the North Eastern Tea Association, told The Hindu.

Some planters believe fuelling the bioethanol plant could help the industry get over a near-slump due to multiple factors, including climate change impacting production, ageing tea bushes, high production costs, poor infrastructure, and labour shortage.

Long-term plan

The ABEPL has put in place a structured tie-up model, ensuring sustainable bamboo supply and transparent sourcing. The model requires farmers to offload their product at a decentralised chipping unit within 30-40 km of their farms. The chipped bamboo is then transported to the plant for instant payment to everyone down the line.

A major part of the plan is the long-term goal of distributing 60 lakh saplings free of cost to the farmers. Although six species of bamboo have been found suitable for the biorefinery, the saplings are of the Bambusa tulda variety, locally called Jatibanh.

“The saplings, grown at State government nurseries, are vital for sustainable operations, as bamboo takes about four years to be harvest-ready. We plan to bring 12,500 hectares under bamboo cultivation,” an ABEPL official said.

The tea gardens within a 300-km radius of the ABEPL cover about 250,000 hectares of land. The land these gardens can offer is 12,500 hectares.

Published – February 14, 2026 10:26 pm IST