The Consultation was - organized by IFAD, FAO and ICRISAT – brought together experts, stakeholders and staff from development organizations, research institutions, universities and the private sector to discuss potential of sweet sorghum for bio-ethanol production with a pro-poor focus. A special session on Tropical Sugar Beet as a new bio-fuel crop for tropical and sub-tropical areas with saline/alkaline soils was also presented.

The Consultation was chaired by Mr. Eric Kueneman (FAO) and co-chaired by Mark Winslow (ICRISAT) and V. Raswant (IFAD) It was opened by Mr. Kevin Cleaver, Assistant President, IFAD, who noted that in view of the fact that almost 70% of the IFAD projects were in remote areas with poor agro-climatic conditions that offered limited opportunities for increasing the incomes of the poor, selected bio-fuels crops could provide an important source of income to the poor.

List of speakers and external participants

1. Eric Kueneman (FAO)
2. Jeff Tschirley (FAO)
3. Kevin Gallagher (FAO)
4. Jennifer Nyberg (FAO
5. Irini Maltsoglou (FAO)
6. Peter Griffee
7. K.P.C. Rao (ICRISAT)
8. Bellum Reddy (ICRISAT)
9. Mark Winslow (ICRISAT)
10. Peter Hazell (Imperial College, London)
11. Dilip Gokhale (Syngenta)
12. Li Dajue (Beijing Green Energy Institute)
13. Li Hongyu (Beijing Green Energy Institute)
14. Robert E. Schaffert (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária, EMBRAPA)
15. Jeremy Woods (Imperial College, London)
16. Danielle Bellmer (Oklahoma State University)
17. Anil Mandke (Praj Industries)
18. A. R. Palaniswamy (Rusni Distilleries)
19. Arrigo Della Gherardesca (Green Energy Italia)
20. Luigi Pari (Consiglio per la Ricerca e la Sperimentazione in Agricoltura, CRA)
21. Alessandro Bozzini
22. Maurizio Cocchi (European Biomass Industry Association, EUBIA)
23. Euro Buongarzone, ENI
24. Abdulrezah Abbassian, FAO
25. Serge Braconnier, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD)
26. M.C. Marinho da Silva, GreEnSys, TRIUM Class of 2008