JATROPHA

Jatropha in Africa

Jatropha is our major component of raw material, jatropha isn't a well known raw material for a biofuel, like corn or sugar cane, but when it comes to producing bio-diesel, Jatropha may be have the highest energy payback of any biofuel. Moreover, unlike corn or sugar cane, Jatropha is a perennial, yielding oil seed for decades after planting, and it can grow without irrigation in arid conditions where corn and sugar cane could never thrive.



If, to use an extreme case, 25% of Africa's land deemed suitable to grow Jatropha were used for that purpose, the yearly output would match 100% of the current oil consumption in the USA. Needless to say, such a scenario would also erase forever the landscape of poverty that has plagued Africans for decades. And where the Sahara and Kalahari are on the march, Jatropha can grow, storing moisture, stabilizing soil, and slowing if not reversing desertification.


This is a summary of the article:
FIGHTING THE DESERT & CREATING WEALTH
by Keith Parsons

click here for the whole article.







    |     BIO ENERGY UTILITIES     |     Joa Maouche,         project manager     |     joamaouche@fairtradebiodiesel.nl     |