This makes any documentation in terms of consumption extremely unreliable. Fuelwood comprises the lion's share in biomass consumption. But forests in India constitute a mere one-fifth of the total land area of the country and their condition is extremely poor. Crop residues may be utilised as fuel, fertiliser, feed, building or industrial materials, and in chemical formulation. However, in view of the need for decentralised energy supply for rural homes, their use as fuel is of primary importance.
Animal dung plays a very significant part in Indian villages as a fuel and in the fields.
Because of a considerable presence of livestock in rural India, dung is always available in abundance. However, not all dung that is available may be collected and not all dung that is collected may in fact be used as fuel. The utilisation pattern of animal dung in a particular area depends upon the climate and fuelwood availability there and it varies with the seasons. A number of estimates have been made from time to time about the potential of biogas generation in India and the results are consistently upbeat. With a livestock population of over 300 million, the government can set up over 30 million individual biogas plants and 5,60,000 community plants at a basic norm of one in each village.