Jatropha Investments

Several governments in the region have announced plans for massive planting programs. The Indian government is targeting 13.5 million hectares, or 33.5 million acres, for jatropha cultivation by 2012; in the Philippines, a British firm, NRG Chemical Engineering, has set up a joint venture with the state-owned Philippine National Oil to construct a biodiesel refinery and two ethanol distilleries.

NRG Chemical says that it will invest $600 million in jatropha plantations that will cover over a million hectares, mainly on the islands of Palawan and Mindanao.

Even Myanmar is joining the fray, with the director general of Myanmar's energy planning department being quoted over the summer saying that the country hopes to have 2.8 million hectares of jatropha plantations by the end of next year. The country has already planted 650,000 hectares, according to news reports.

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