Jatropha was presented as one of the solutions to the oscillation of oil prices and climate change problems. Its biofuel is "biodegradable, offers energy security and produce cleaner and lower emissions in comparison to classical fossil fuels. As a result an increasing number of investments have been made in this sector."
"In January 2009, Time Magazine described the Jatropha as the potentially next big biofuel as it has a crucial advantage in alleviating rural poverty: "unlike corn and other biofuel sources, the Jatropha doesn’t have to compete with food crops for arable land. Even in the worst of soils, it grows like weeds""
However, according to a report of the World Agroforestry Center, caution is needed:
"Through a survey literally conducted on the 'field', hundreds of small farmers have been interviewed about the yields of Jatropha. The study has shown a dramatically different reality to what has been enthusiastically claimed. Jatropha has low yields and uneconomical costs of production. What is more this crop needs a large amount of irrigation or rainfall and has a low performance in dry zones. Contrary to what has been stated, Jatropha is vulnerable to a significant number of pests and diseases. In the lights of these results, the report suggests that “Jatropha should not be promoted among smallholder farmers as a monoculture or intercropped plantation crop […] We recommend that all stakeholders re-evaluate their activities promoting Jatropha among smallholder farmers”." Keep in mind that this is a study based in Kenya. As far as I know, Jatropha is hugely succesful in South-Asian countries such as Indonesia (where rainfall is large!).
The World Agroforestry Center furthermore reports that "Jatropha could become a complementary component of a diverse livelihood strategy that contributes to overall increased agricultural productivity. However, the lack of scientific knowledge on agronomy, such as high-yielding seeds, best management practices, and optimum soil fertility, inhibits the delivery of effective farmer extension services. Another obstacle is that most growers are geographically dispersed and have yet to produce large enough quantities of seeds to achieve the economies of scale necessary for efficient biofuels processing.". I find the last sentence interesting: biofuel (produced by any plant, not just Jatropha) is not economically viable as long as there is no big enough market for it. However big the potential may be, it still needs to be commercially effective.
"A final problem involves whether smallholder farmers with little access to capital can afford to wait the years it will take to recoup their investment and start making a profit.". This is not only a problem with Jathropa, but this problems is dealt with all trees. Not all farmers are willing to take risks and unfortunately most of the farmers in developing countries will not or can not look further than short-term profit.
Ultimately, the author of the article rightly concludes that "biofuels have potential for the future of combustible energy but sometimes they have been promoted too easily without investigating the possible consequences. Taking into account that the majority of bioenergy crops are settled in developing countries, even more cautiousness is needed. Before investing in biofuel itself, promoters should devote financial resources towards researching the possible environmental impacts, effects on food production and the economic consequences for the interested region."
The infamous disadvantages of biofuel production, such as competing with food production and the effects on food prices, are quite clear. But it is also a myth that biofuel use and production is CO2 emission-free, as explained in simple terms by this article of Wetlands International. Although a car using biofuel has less impact on the environment than the same car using diesel, the production of the biofuel itself is not emission-free and may have a big impact on the environment, as explained by the article. Basically, to correctly calculate emission by biofuel production, its whole lifecycle must be taken into account. This is where a Life Cycle Assesment (LCA) plays a role.
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I would like to go deeper into the earlier report as there are some more interesting conclusions taken there. Castor, Croton and other oilseeds have promising potential in Kenya:
"Castor has great potential, but is lacking commercial investment in Kenya. Superior, high yielding seed varieties and extensive agronomic knowledge exist globally, but must be developed at the local level. Field trials to assess cost of production and yields under different management regimes are also important in order to identify the most profitable business models. Local processors must also
import the machinery required to process high-quality Castor oil.
There are many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Croton trees growing wildly and in agroforestry systems throughout Kenya. Some of the critical obstacles for the development of Croton for biodiesel production include a lack of knowledge on the best silvicultural practices, such as spacing, pruning, and the correlation between fertilization of trees and yields. Seed harvesting and post-harvest handling techniques also have not been established and standardized. Nonetheless the potential for production, processing and utilization of Croton seeds for biofuels is substantial.
There is a need to design and establish agronomic research trials for determining best practices and
identifying superior, seed-producing trees. There is also an urgent need to undertake countrywide
census of different age classes of Croton trees and to determine accurate seed yield estimates. A final
recommendation, mainly aimed at the private sector, is to design and mainstream an integrated
model of production, processing, utilization, and marketing for Croton-based biofuel systems."
In conclusion, more local research (notice the emphasis of field trials), heavy agricultural extension and business designs are needed.
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