Will the Brown Revolution 2.0 bring the next big step in growth of Indian economy?

Historically, the term 'brown revolution' has been linked to improved soil health and fertilizer levels, but it has taken on a new meaning. The term 'brown revolution 2.0' describes the potential of cow excrement, or 'gobar,' as an economic and environmental resource within the context of India's rural economy.

The new Brown Revolution 2.0 Cow dung as a rural asset

According to the 20th Livestock Census, which was carried out by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairy, there are more than 303 million cows in India. Three million tonnes of cow dung are produced every day in this country, according to estimates, but most of it is never processed and is therefore discarded or misused halfway through.

In recent years, cow dung has also gained popularity as a raw material for energy, organic fertilizer, and environmentally friendly consumer goods. It represents a new turning point in the course of what is now known as the Brown Revolution 2.0.

The Emergence of Biogas and Compressed Bio gas (CBG)

In 2018, the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas created the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) program to promote Compressed Biogas (CBG). The current CBG Production of India is 480 tonnes a day by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) estimations of 2024. There is also this information in this report that reads that 50 percent of the feedstock comes in the form of agricultural waste and cattle dung.

According to the report issued by PPAC, it has been noted that the possible CBG capacity of India is approximately 62 million tonnes per annum which will be able to reduce imports of fossil fuel by up to a sum of 10 billion dollars per year on full exploitation of its capacity.

Organic Farming and Cow Dung based Fertilizers

One of the most important organic farming component is cow dung. It is used in formulation of Panchgavya, Jeevamrit, Vermicompost. The Ministry of Agriculture promotes organic farming on more than 23 lakh hectare of farm-land with the aid of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY).

In its 2025 assessment, NITI Aayog indicated that the implementation of gobar-based bio-inputs caused soil fertility rates to go up by 17% to 20% and reduced crop manufacturing expenditure by 15 percent among pilot areas in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Village Economy and Deconcentrate Economy

Cow dung has developed to be a source of decentralized job. Governmental and non-governmental efforts have established gobar-industries in states including Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, which manufacture cow dung diyas, incense sticks, and seed balls as well as biodegradable population.

To give an example, a report published by the State Department of Agriculture revealed that Chhattisgarh Godhan Nyay Yojana, a scheme in which cow dung was purchased at the rate of 2 rupees per kg, had purchased more than 1 crore quintals of cow dung and generated more than 13, 000 direct jobs until March 2024.

Environmental Benefits- At A Glance

Bio fertilizer produced using cow-dung helps in cutting down the emissions of the greenhouse gases up to 28 percent when compared to the synthetic ones as revealed in a 2024 study conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Besides this, in the case of biogas plants, cow-dung will serve to avoid emissions in the form of methane which would have otherwise been formed due to the process of open-air decomposition. An Indian fact sheet of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) released in late 2024 estimated that methane emissions due to unregulated cow dung should be nearly 15 percent of all agricultural GHG emissions in India.

Obstacles on the Way of Brown Revolution 2.0

In spite of such promises, the challenges ahead of Brown Revolution 2.0 are the inadequate cold storage, logistics, the absence of an organized system of cow dung collection, Regulatory Bottlenecks in permitting Organic Fertilizers and licenses in the use of Energy, and ignorance of farmers about the economic viability of gobar-based products as commodities.

Recently, the release of Draft National Bio-Energy Policy 2025 (released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy) also seeks to deal with some of these problems by proposing incentives to community-based gobar processing units and a liberal regulation space to rural entrepreneurs.

Venugopal Naidu Puvvada, Trustee and National Coordinator- Tech and Innovation, Rashtriya Gau Sevak Sangh (RGSS) opined, the Brown Revolution 2.0 can form a significant contribution to the economic development of India. We need to have the right vision about our soil and cow dung. The bovine faeces will be able to form a support pillar of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Initiative of India. When we will come to know the real potential of cow dung, only then we can stand up, as a nation in our real potential.”

Considering the trend and demand of cow dung, we can also say that brown revolution 2.0 can lead India with its next big economic jump in the years to come.