Industrial Crops: Bioresources to Biotechnology

by Aliyu Ahmad Warra, Majeti Narasimha Vara Prasad

This book captures how industrial crops can be used in conventional agriculture and greener biopharming for pharmaceutical industries. Pharmaceuticals and industrial compounds are studied from the perspective of their co-existence with plant resources and byproducts. Such plant-based industrial products rely on scientific and technological breakthroughs and provide new opportunities for the agricultural sector, at the same time mitigate the risks associated with climate change. The management of the externalities and of the possible unintended economic effects that arise in this context is critical and poses difficult questions for regulators. The book also provides a review of the emerging agro-industrial biomass technology involved in conversion of most of the solid transgenic industrial crops by products such as plant oil lignocellulosic materials into liquid biobased energy-fuels. The book covers how innovative biotechnology can expand the markets for agricultural producers worldwide, reduce environmental degradation, and provide alternatives to fossil carbon-derived products and energy. Aspects of entrepreneurial biotechnology and bioprospecting are also covered.