There's a lot of talk about Jatropha as being a suitable plant to produce biofuels in the future, mostly because it can grow on bad soil in pretty dry conditions and the nut is not edible. But there's a note of warning from a recent Dutch Study Claims and Facts on Jatropha curcas. In one of its conclusions they say
However, as soon as J curcas is related to high oil yield production [report's emphasis], a claim which in itself is not backed up by any scientific findings so far, (especially not on a large scale), a risk warning should be given about the validity of these claims. Especially the claims of low nutrient requirements (soil fertility), low water use, low labour inputs, the non-existance of competition with food production, and tolerance to pests and diseases are definitely not true in combination with high yield oil production.The report is particularly worried about the ability of jatropha to produce high yeilds in marginal conditions.
Comments (2)
Hi Simon,
Readers interested in this article may also be interested in Biofuel: The little shrub that could - maybe by Daemon Fairless on Checkbiotech Green.
The article chronicles the development of Jatropha plantations in India and says yield estimates currently vary a great deal. If Jatropha is to produce reliably high yields it needs to be grown in a systematic manner just like any other crop.
“We must neither get carried away by hype nor get despondent if the initial results of cultivation are not as per expectation. The future will depend on how seriously and scientifically we pursue our goals.”
Hope you had a great Christmas.
Luke
Posted by envirofuel
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December 27, 2007 10:13 PM
Posted on December 27, 2007 22:13
Hi Simon,
I will agree that there are a lot of fantastical claims about Jatropha. In fact, there was a recent conference in Jakarta- JATROPHAWORLD 2008, which looked at issues of yields, harvesting, nutrient requirements and water requirements to name a few.
You can visit the event site at www.futureenergyevents.com/jatropha. They've got a free position paper for download entitled 'Sustainable Biodiesel Feedstock. Jatropha: A Strategic Option' which is a great overview of the shifts occuring in the Jatropha value chain.
I've heard that they are going to do this conference in Miami as well on 10-11 June, but their focus is going to be on American, Caribbean and Latin American investments. I don't know the details of this yet, but I think I'm going to be there.
Divya
Posted by divya | February 5, 2008 1:51 AM
Posted on February 5, 2008 01:51