Views on Jatropha as Biofuel Mixed

Three different news items highlight the vast differences in viewpoint and the continuing uncertainty around the farming of Jatropha by small scale farmers as a feedstock for Europe’s refineries moving towards meeting the EU’s renewable liquid fuel goals.

Clarity on What Jatropha Can Deliver at the recent Africa Biofuels Conference in Midrand South Africa, Vincent Volckaert the Regional Manager for Africa of D1 Oils Plant Science presented a paper titled “Jatropha curcas: beyond the myth of the miracle crop.”
Besides making it clear that Jatropha is not a miracle plant and like any other it needs water and fertiliser to produce biomass, he noted it was particularly sensitive to pests and disease when not grown as an intercrop.

And Perceptions are What Drives Small Farmer’s ActionsFriends of the Earth (FOE) have published a report cautioning that the widespread introduction of Jatropha by D1 Oils through the contracting of small scale farmers in Swaziland might be counterproductive. They call on the EU to include a thorough analysis of Jatropha in its 2010 report on indirect land use change due to biofuel production and the UK Government to carry out an urgent review into the current impacts of biofuels in developing countries for crops. They also call on the EU to put biofuel targets on hold until it can be proven that they can be met sustainably and D1 Oils to halt production while Environmental Impact Assesments (EIA) are undertaken.

They make a strong statement that Jatropha cannot currently be considered a sustainable biofuel crop because its supposed benefits are unproven.

Reuters