The African officials from Cotton industry visited India to see how business person are turning unused parts of the crop into inexhaustible energy for businesses and extra income for farmers.

The unused parts of the cotton plant going up in smoke could instead be sold as clean fuel – in the form of briquettes or pellets to restore coal and wood in boilers and heaters. These cotton by-products can boost farmers’ incomes and help change the impression that burning agricultural waste has on the environment and public health.

Few countries which are on project, which includes Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, works with farmers’ associations, government officials and businesses in each country to identify new opportunities to produce cotton by-products like briquettes and pellets as the demand is growing.

There are workshops in the African countries, which introduced the technologies and evaluated their feasibility. Upon, seeing them in action is an even more powerful way to convince the participants to adopt these technologies in their countries.

India was selected as a part of the tour organized by India's Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology because of the comparison between cotton production between the four African nations which means the technologies used in India are well-suited to the African context, making technology transfer more feasible.