Jatropha Cultivation in Mali & India

One of the best examples of a sustainable usage of Jatropha is found in the West African country of Mali. The Jatropha program in Mali began in 1993 with German Technical Assistance. The program not only aimed to use Jatropha oil as a fuel but also use Jatropha cultivation as a springboard for energizing rural economies. The small village of Simiji has recently been transformed by Jatropha production. By crushing the seeds of the Jatropha plant and extracting the oil, village residents have found a renewable power source that does not conflict with the local food supply. Oil from the Jatropha plant, long considered useless, now powers a small generator. Simiji now has enough power to run 40 streetlights and give 60 families power at night. The usage of Jatropha in Simiji is not an isolated case of success in Mali. It is one of 700 communities that have installed a generator; which can run on plant oil, part of a larger state run project to electrify the country’s 12000 villages through a renewable energy source that does not harm the local food supply. Aboubacar Samake, head of the Jatropha program at the government funded National Center for Solar and Renewable energy, noted that a number of foreign companies had shown an interest in developing a Jatropha industry in Mali. Encouragingly for the local villages, Samake said that the foreign companies had been told that no agro-fuels would be exported until Mali’s domestic needs were met.

Another country that is also investing heavily in Jatropha production is India. Similar to Mali, the Indian Jatropha grows in the wild, does not require large-scale irrigation projects and can be harvested within two years of planting. In contrast to Mali, India’s investment in Jatropha follows a more conventional path of development in alternative energy resources. While the Jatropha plant in India is the same as the one in Mali, the goals of the Jatropha program in India are somewhat different. In Mali, the Jatropha plant was used to develop a renewable power supply for each individual village, however, in India, Jatropha planting is primarily aimed at reducing oil imports and achieving energy independence. Jatropha cultivation in India also received a strong boost after the President of India Abdul Kalam announced he was a supporter of the project.

Read more info here

Labels: Jatropha-Cultivation

posted by Sudha @ 1:40 AM