**3.2 Value addition of agro by-products**

Adding value to agricultural by-product makes it more desirable and enhances their economic value. Crop residue or agro by-products usually represent relatively high amounts of cellulosic material that could be returned to the soil for its future enrichment in carbon and nutrients or could be made available for further conversion to biofuels, bioenergy and other products. Such agricultural by-products can play an important role in triggering the transition of sustainable energy. There are many economic benefits that can be obtained through value-addition to agricultural by-products. These benefits include enhancing the resource use efficiency of agricultural production, increasing farm incomes and reducing the costs of production and thus increasing the profitability of farming, producing novel products, creating jobs, minimizing the disposal of the by-products into the environment to ensure improvement in environment quality [17].
