The Planning Commission, Government of India has set a target of 20 per cent blending of diesel with bio-diesel by the year 2012 to reduce the wide gap between demand and supply of petroleum products. This requires cultivating bio-diesel
yielding crops on 11 M.ha to yield 13 M.t. of bio-diesel per year. In response to this, the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) launched a massive bio-fuel plantation programme in 2004-05. Since there was not enough research data to back a massive field plantation, GoAP sanctioned a R&D project on bio-fuels to CRIDA. The on-farm experiments were initiated in farmers’ fields during kharif, 2005 in 69 acres in three districts of Andhra Pradesh with three levels each of irrigation, nutrition, pruning and four levels of spacings.