Cost of Sweet Sorghum cultivation for bioethanol production in India and in Greece

by   Dr. Kostas KONSTANTINOU

July 06, 2025

As it’s mentioned in ‘’Sweet Sorghum:Food, Feed, Fodder and Fuel Crop’’, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in India, a plant of 40,000 litre capacity of ethanol per day needs 24 ha of sweet sorghum stalks (870 t) per day, priced at €7.45/tn. The production cost of bio-ethanol is 0.27€ /l. The comparative advantages of sweet sorghum and the earnings from sweet sorghum for farmers in India are presented in table 1 and 2 correspondingly.

Table 1: Sweet sorghum scores over sugarcane and maize, (source: ICRISAT)

Parameter

Sweet sorghum

Sugarcane

Maize

Crop duration

4 months

12 months

4 months

Water requirement

4000 m3

36000 m3

8000 m3

Grain yield (t/ha)

2.0

-

3.5

Ethanol from grain (l/ha)

760

-

1400

Green stalk cane yield (t/ha)

35

75

45

Ethanol from stalk cane juice (l/ha)

1400

5600

0

Stillage/stover (t/ha)

4

13.3

8

Ethanol from residue (l/ha)

1000

3325

1816

Total ethanol (l/ha)

3160

8925

3216

Corn oil

-

-

140

Income from Corn oil €/ha

-

-

44,2

Cost of cultivation €/ha

159,4

720,8

197,0

Cost of cultivation €/ha

159,4

-

152,9

Cost of cultivation with irrigation water cost €/ha

172,4

720,8

207,9

Ethanol cost per kilo liter

50,4

80,8

47,5

Ethanol cost per kilo liter

54,5

80,8

64,6

Table 2: Earnings from sweet sorghum, (source: ICRISAT)

sweet sorghum

grain sorghum


Rainy

Postrainy

Rainy

Postrainy

Grain yield (t /ha)

1.0

2.0

3.0

2.0

Stalk yield (t / ha)

40

25

10

7

Grain value (€/ year)

236

394

Stalk value (€/ year)

513

268

Total value (€/ year)

949

662

Leaf stripping (€/ year)

29

-

Net value (€/ year)

720

662


For the case of Greece the following data apply in Tables Tables 3, 4 and 5.

Table 3: Production cost of sweet sorghum for bio-ethanol production ’Energy crops in Europe and Greece’’contacted by the Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving (CRES) (Μ. Christou, Ε. Alexopoulou, V. Luxnaras, Ε. Νamatov.)

Yields(tn/ha)

70

Rent

30.00

Field preparation

20.50

Fight enemies

6.25

Lubrication

11.45

Sowing

10.50

Irrigation

20.00

Harvest

17.50

Production cost(€/ha)

1162

Production cost(€/kg)

16.6

Table 4: Sweet sorghum for bio-ethanol production, Fotios Vakakis: ‘’Energy crops and agricultural income’’

Yield (tn/ ha.)

80

Biofuel yield(l/ ha.)

6700

Price (€/kg)

0.025

Gross value (€/ ha.)

2045

Production cost (€/ ha.)

1250

Gain (€/ ha.)

79.5

Table 5: Production cost and economic analysis of the sweet sorghum cultivation, Ε. Lumperopoulou, National Technical University of Athens ‘Installation of Bioethanol production from sweet sorghum energy plant in Greece’’

Yield (tn/ ha.)

70

Sale price (€/ tn)

20

Gross income(€/ha.)

1400

Rent

28.5

Tilth

9

Field preparation

10

Lubrication

10.8

Sowing

9.2

Herbicides

8.1

Irrigation

30

Harvest

17.4

Production cost (€/ha.)

1230

Gain before aid

17

Aid

26

Gain before interest and taxes(€/ha.)

430