Several corporations, petroleum companies and private companies have entered into Memoranda of Understanding with state governments to establish and promote Jatropha plantations on government-owned wastelands or through contract farming with small and medium farmers. However, due to constraints like very poor Jatropha seed yield, limited availability of wasteland and high plantation and maintenance costs, biodiesel projects became unviable.
Consequently, because of limited availability of biodiesel and the volatile nature of its prices, the speed of blending had suffered a setback. It is reported that Jatropha occupies only around 0. Further, a major obstacle in implementing the biodiesel programme has been the difficulty in initiating large-scale cultivation of Jatropha. The higher gestation period of biodiesel crops 3—5 years for Jatropha results in a longer payback period and creates additional problems for farmers where state support is not readily available.
An ICAR study also points out that the Jatropha- based biodiesel production programme is bogged down with several obstacles like slow progress in planting, sub-optimal processing and marketing infrastructure and under-developed distribution channels. In the last few years, a few stakeholders from public and private sector units have also been engaged in identifying other tree-borne oil seeds as alternatives to jatropha for biodiesel production. However, the sustainability of these is still to be validated.
While favourable government policies as well as the vigorous participation of local communities and private entrepreneurs can sustain the programme in the short term, it is equally important to have a sound long-term strategy at our disposal. The current course is not likely to be adequate in the long-term, given the present choice of feedstocks, status of technology and available policy.
A substantial research thrust on the development of second and third generation feedstocks is crucial to address the future bio energy needs of the country. According to the OECD-FAO Agriculture Outlook , the demand for bio-fuels is shifting towards developing countries, which are increasingly putting in place policies that favour a domestic bio-fuels market.
Just like ethanol, demand for biodiesel is also expected to decline in the US and EU, which will drive down demand for vegetable oil as feedstock. While all parts of the plant contain toxins, the seeds are considered the most poisonous part of the plant: as few as one to three seeds can cause abdominal pain, nausea, and diarrhea in humans.
This poses a problem in terms of producing biodiesel, since the seed cake left over after oil extraction cannot be fed to animals. This versatility may make it useful in remote areas where other fuel is not available, and on degraded land not suitable for farming. The following sections of this article are summarized from the FAO report.
Jatropha planted from seed will develop a tap root that allows it to bring up water from deep in the soil. The tap root also extracts minerals far down in the soil profile. The plant then returns those minerals to the surface of the soil through leaf fall and other debris. Therefore, jatropha can be used to reclaim degraded farmland. The surface roots help prevent soil erosion. In Madagascar and Uganda, jatropha is grown to provide support and shade for vanilla plants.
Plant extracts of jatropha are used for dying cloth, and as a traditional medicine for humans and animals. Jatropha seed cake has a high nitrogen content, similar to chicken manure, and can be used as an organic fertilizer. The seed cake, fruit shells, and seed husks can be used as biomass fuel. Jatropha oil can be used for lighting, soap-making, and heating, in addition to biodiesel. Jatropha is a succulent perennial shrub or small tree that can grow up to five feet tall under optimal conditions.
It does not do well in shade, but can tolerate bright light. Each fruit contains two or three black seeds, around 2 cm x 1 cm in size. By it was clear that jatropha was uneconomical and risky in Kenya, especially when grown in plots rather than hedges. Mogaka and colleagues hope their research will help decision makers, agricultural departments and extension officers in Kenya and other parts of East Africa avoid at least some of the mistakes of the past and develop better biofuel development strategies in the future.
In the early stages of the study, the researchers believed it was better-off farmers who were willing to take the risk to cultivate jatropha, but they discovered that financial capital was not necessarily connected with jatropha adoption. The scientists then looked in more depth at the role of other capital assets human, social, natural and physical in shaping livelihood strategies particularly in relation to the adoption process.
In the study, households in 3 districts where jatropha was actively promoted were interviewed: Bondo in Nyanza Province in the west of Kenya, Kibwezi in Eastern Provence and Kwale on the coast near Mombasa. They recorded information from both farmers who adopted jatropha and those who did not.
Farmers were found to be motivated to grow jatropha on the basis of generating additional on-farm income, diversifying their income basis and improving their own energy supply.
Jatropha was also seen as a risk-avoidance strategy in case of crop failure. In Kwale, the situation was a little different because a private company contracted farmers and agreed to a fixed price for their seeds. The company also had an oil press and manufactured modified lamps suitable for jatropha oil.
Those who adopted jatropha, on the word of the promoters, found it to be labor and capital intensive. Yields were extremely low and many farmers were unable to sell what they did harvest or use it for their own energy supply because there was no processing facility nearby.
0コメント