Economic and ecological assessment of integrated agricultural bio-energy and conventional agricultural energy frameworks for agriculture sustainability

Agriculture production cost and production system sustainability are key factors to sustain food production for the growing human race. This study assessed two farming frameworks; Integrated Agricultural Bio-Energy (IAB) and Conventional Agricultural Energy (CAE) with an emphasis on fuel, fertilization, and household energy. The IAB depended on Jatropha biodiesel-petro-diesel blend (JB88) + solar energy + organic fertilizer, while CAE used petrol-diesel + hydro-electric energy + chemical fertilizer. The study was planned in the Randomized Complete Block Design with 4 replications. Analysis of the results revealed that CAE produced the highest maize, soybean, and Andrographis paniculata yields but due to its higher variable production cost and the low market price of inorganic food, the profit gained, and the benefit-cost ratio were lesser. The variable production cost/year of IAB was reduced due to the less fuel cost (66%) and low fuel consumption rate (1.98%) of JB88 compared to the petrol-diesel of CAB. JB88 also recorded high market-priced products that intend to give more profit when compared to CAE. The gaseous emissions of HC (24.42 ppm) and CO (0.03%) of IAB were 30.3% and 95.9%, respectively lesser compared to CAE which emitted 35.03 ppm of HC and 0.74% of CO, respectively. Thus the economic gain, the less harmful gases released, and the known benefits of organic fertilizer used in IAB makes it a more efficient and environmentally friendly framework for a sustainable agriculture production.