Readers of the Sunday Monitor in Uganda were treated this morning to a long article about Jatropha carcus, a shrubby tree whose seeds contain 40% oil that can be made into biodiesel. The piece is extremely thorough, giving a mass of numbers about Jatropha and pointing out that it can deliver multiple benefits as part of agroforestry systems. Hand presses can keep production local. The seedcake, after pressing out the oil, is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and so can be returned to the farm to boost soil fertility. Intercropping suggests that it need not detract from food production. Uganda currently spends US$ 230 million on diesel imports.
Ber germplasm conserved
Haryana Agricultural University in India has received a grant to build and study a collection of ber genetic resources. Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana) is a jujube tree that grows well in arid areas, has fruits rich in vitamin C, and also could be used for the production of biodiesel.
Decentralized biofuel distillation
A report in The Financial Express of India makes perplexing reading. It cites a report from CIAT, the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, that advocates small-scale conversion of starchy crops such as sweet potato and cassava into ethanol for use as biofuel. Initial processing would be a village-level activity, resulting in 50% alcohol (by volume). This would be transported to a central distillery to make 99.5% alcohol. I see a couple of problems.
First, experience in, for example, the Kolli Hills of India shows that when poor rural farmers grow industrial feedstock (cassava for starch factories) they do not earn enough the replace the nutrition they used to grow and that is now displaced by the industrial crop.
Secondly, drunkeness. I’m serious. I’ve lost track of the number of diversification and income-generating projects in which the women have to be in charge because if the men get their hands on the additional cash they spend it on drink. So, let’s cut out the middle man and make drink the object of the exercise?
Biofuels blog
A whole blog on “low-input, high-diversity” biofuels.
Report on biofuels
GRAIN’s report on biofuels is generating lots of heat.