Oil reserves are diminishing and the price per barrel is
rising. The added cost, the looming depletion, and the
impact on the environment are all gaining global attention.
From federal government policies to individual lifestyle
changes, people are aware of the need to manage our
non-renewable energy sources and find affordable,
renewable, and environmentally friendly energy solutions.
Enter Jatropha. This small shrub-like plant may be the
answer. It is a hardy plant and its seeds produce more oil
than the same amount of soybeans or corn, and the oil does
not need extensive or pricy processing to make it into
biodiesel. And, its seeds are toxic to animals and humans
which means that fueling a car will not leave a family
hungry.
So, if Jatropha is such an ideal alternative source for
energy, why are farmers not aggressively planting Jatropha
as contract farmers? To uncover the reasons as part of the
research into the viability of growing Jatropha for
biodiesel. The are two key reasons that farmers chose other
plants over Jatropha.
The first reason is crop-land diversion. While Jatropha
cannot be eaten, it is grown in soil that could be used for
food-based agriculture. And, if a farmer is a food
producer, that crop-land is valuable to their livelihood
only if it grows edible products. So, given the choice
between Jatropha and an edible crop, the farmer would
choose the latter.
The second reason is the cost of the agricultural process.
From planting through harvesting to processing, a farmer
may have one or two familiar and affordable logistical
methods for food-based products. However, a Jatropha
planting requires different (and perhaps unusual)
methodology throughout growth, harvesting, and processing.
While not particularly costly, the addition of equipment or
procedures on the scale of a typical farm does create an
additional (and seemingly unnecessary) expenditure. So,
given the choice between Jatropha and a crop that doesn't
seem to cost to produce, the farmer would choose the latter.
Because of these two reasons, farmers have tried and
rejected Jatropha as an option for their farms. As such,
contract farming of Jatropha is not an option for a viable
production of Jatropha biodiesel. A solution would need to
plant Jatropha plants in land that is not dedicated to
food-based crops and would need to have an economy of scale
that enabled production efficiently and affordably.
Managed plantations fit the bill and therefore are a likely
alternative. When corporations acquire tracts of land and
develop them specifically for large-scale Jatropha
production, the issues are solved: Land-use becomes a
non-issue because the land is not already set-aside for
food-based crops, and the economies of scale enable
affordable production.
Further field-work has shown that farmers and their
families support managed plantations as laborers much more
readily than adopting Jatropha on their own farms.
The concludsion is that only companies utilizing the
Managed Plantation model and building sustainable
corporations to support Jatropha projects will successfully
control production cost of Jatropha oil.
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Alec Shapiro is COO of Bioenergy Plantations (BEP),
Singapore's first Jatropha plantation company. BEP offers a
full range of consulting services & turnkey solutions for
biodiesel industry clients that see the future in Jatropha.
For more information visit
http://www.bioenergyplantations.com .
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