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Last Updated- May 23, 2009 12:30 - - 15 Comments
Update: Any lessons for Ghana in India’s jatropha failure?
Would a jatropha crisis hit the world just as the current global economic crisis hit most nations unprepared?
Some analysts are arguing that, the level of the impact of the crisis is so because early warning signals were ignored, and lessons in economic failures of the past were never learned.
Is the investor community learning all they could about the jatropha or biofuel business?
Ghana has become the jatropha centre in Africa south of the Sahara.
There is literally a scramble for land in Ghana by multinationals and local companies in partnership with foreigners vigorously pursuing plans in cultivation of the jatropha plant for its prized oil seed to produce biodiesel for export.
Over twenty companies from various countries are in Ghana acquiring land to cultivate non-food crops and other crops for the production of ethanol and biodiesel, mostly for export.
These companies come from Brazil, Italy, Norway, Israel, China, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and India.
They are cultivating fields in the Volta, Brong Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern and the Northern regions of Ghana. The main non-food crop that these companies are planting is jatropha.
One of the companies, Agroils of Italy is cultivating 10,000 hectares of jatropha in Yeji in the Brong Ahafo region.
Israeli company, Galten has acquired 100,000 hectares of land and an Indian company is requesting for 50,000 hectares of land from the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC), to cultivate jatropha.
A company from the Netherlands has started a pilot project on 10 acres in the northern region and the Chinese are also doing a pilot project.
Gold Star Farms Ltd., is cultivating five million acres of land to plant jatropha for the production of biofuels for export.
A Norwegian company ScanFuel Ltd., has started operations outside Kumasi in the Ashanti region to produce biofuel. The company aims to start initial cultivation of jatropha seeds on 10,000 hectares of land.
The company which has a Ghanaian subsidiary, ScanFuel Ghana Ltd., says its Ghanaian unit has contracted about 400,000 hectares of land, with up to 60 percent reserved for biofuel production, “not less” than 30 percent for food production and the remainder for biodiversity buffer zones.
Another Norwegian company, Biofuels Africa Ltd., the only one among the about 20 biofuels companies cultivating jatropha to receive an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) permit from Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which covers 23,762.45 hectares of its project area is operating in two locations.
Even though, Ghana has no policy, regulations nor structures in place for the biofuels industry, cultivating any company cultivating anything more than 10 hectares is required to conduct an EIA for approval by the EPA.
All together, these companies are cultivating the jatropha plant on millions of hectares of land with the hope of producing biofuels for export.
The cost involved in cultivating 10,000 hectares of jatropha, one investor has said is approximately US$14 million – and that is when it is not irrigated. And this raises some questions about the commitment of some of these companies to follow through with their projects successfully.
The cost of an extraction plant if bought from India costs about US$3 million but could cost about US$9 million when bought from the West and an additional US$2 million would be required for storage and logistics.
As these companies pursue their dreams, it would be worthwhile to consider India’s failure in attempting to produce biodiesel from jatropha and learn some lessons.
The jatropha tree takes four to five years to mature fully. According to Satish Lele of the Indian Biofuels Awareness Centre, during the cultivation period if the plantation is rain fed, these plants can yield 0.35 to 0.375 gallon of oil per tree or 375 gallons per hectare or 150 gallons per acre. If it is irrigated (3 to 5 liters per plant every 15 days) it can be double this amount.
Planting jatropha alone is not economically attractive, he argues further, as there is little income from it for the first two to three years. The jatropha plant is initially small in height, and he, therefore, suggests that, castor should be intercropped with it in fallow land, to get income and oil.
The Indian experience
The National, a newspaper published in Abu Dhabi in its May 11, 2009 issue, published an article titled; ‘Jatropha seeds yield little hope for India’s oil dream.’
The article referred to a project that was embarked upon by Professor R. R. Shah in 2005, when he sent a team to Navsari Agricultural University’s most parched and desolate strip of land, a farm in the Vyasa district of India’s northern state of Gujarat.
The team was instructed to set up a model farm for jatropha, the hardy shrub with oil-rich seeds that were then emerging as one of the most promising alternatives to crude oil. At the time, jatropha’s promise seemed boundless. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the president of the University, even used his presidential address that year to extol the virtues of jatropha.
“Jatropha can survive in the most arid wastelands”, the story went. And so vast barren swathes of India could be put to productive use. It is inedible so it would not cause a backlash by competing with food crops, it said.
The government, according to the publication announced a scheme to plant 13 million hectares, enough to generate nearly 500,000 barrels of jatropha oil per day.
But as Prof Shah’s project in Vyasa nears its end this month, the dean of agribusiness at Navsari is sceptical. “There is no yield,” he says. “The literature said that with dry land, after four years’ growth, you can get a yield of 1kg per plant. For us, it is hardly 200g per plant.”
The consensus of the team of experts after evaluating India’s jatropa projects from 22 agribusiness colleges across the country was that, indeed, jatropha would grow on wasteland, but would give no appreciable yield.
“This is not a wasteland crop. It needs fertiliser, water and good management. Yes, it grows on wasteland, but it doesn’t give you any yield,” the publication quotes Dr Suman Jha a researcher on Prof. Shah’s team as saying.
If this observation is anything to go by, then the persistent argument that jatropha could grow on unproductive agriculture land should be looked at again. This argument also challenges the assertion that investors are not a threat to smallholder farmers,whose productive agriculture land stands to be annexed by powerful multinationals for the cultivation of biofuel crops.
Non of the projects cited in The National story, including D1 Oils’, a London-listed biofuels company, which has planted about 257,000 hectares of jatropha, mainly in India was successful. The company moved far too early.
The report indicated that D1 is also having some nasty surprises on yield. It said in 2006 that it aimed to produce 2.7 tonnes of oil per hectare from areas planted with its new E1 variety, and 1.7 tonnes of oil from normal seed. That is equivalent to about 8 tonnes and 5 tonnes of seed per hectare respectively, or 3.5kg and 2kg a plant.
According to the report, Pradip Bhar, who runs the company’s D1 Williamson Magor Bio Fuel joint venture in India’s north east, admits he has yet to achieve a fraction of that.
“Hitting 500g is the challenge,” he says. “Mortality is quite high. But if we can reach 500g in two years’ time, after that the bush will continue to grow. Our expectation is that after the fourth year we will hit 1kg. The 1.5kg mark we haven’t touched as yet.”
Those are the results from the fertile state of Assam, According to the report. The yields in other, dryer states such as Jharkand and Orissa, he says, are much worse.
Mr Bhar intends to hold the area under cultivation steady at about 132,000 hectares this year. As his plantations account for more than half of D1 Oils’ Jatropha crop, the company’s goal of planting 1 million hectares by 2011 looks like a tough one. He is concentrating instead on ensuring his small contract farmers continue tending it for the two or three years needed before it becomes profitable.
This challenge is one of the reasons why Prof Shah doubts the 500,000 hectares of jatropha the Indian government estimates has been planted so far. Only last month, he unsettled an annual meeting of the universities researching jatropha and India’s National Oilseeds and Vegetable Oil Development Board by reporting that only 5,000 hectares was actually under plantation in Gujarat, half the official estimate, the report added.
The Indian experience can provide sufficient evidence for a careful, and thorough, cost-benefit analysis of Ghana’s jatropha dream, before the bubble most probably bursts.
From May 27 to 28, an international conference on jatropha in Ghana would be considering the benefits of the crop to the global economy.
Hopefully, the conference would not hype the benefits of jatropha and neglect the possible pitfalls. An objective consideration of all the possibilities, including that of possible failure, as the Indian experience has shown so as to minimize any collateral damage in the long term is necessary for the move forward.
The companies investing in jatropha and other non-food crops for the production of biofuels including the ones from India, have lots of lessons to learn from India’s example, so as not to repeat the mistake.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
Email: edogbevi@hotmail.com
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15 Responses to “Update: Any lessons for Ghana in India’s jatropha failure?”
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Its really eye opening ! It seems like people have “greed” as the dominant emotion, at least in the past few decades we can clearly see. This is more evident in recent pattern of equities (people rushing in to buy despite well acknowledged uncertainties ahead). When this emotion gets past its peak people turn towards “fear”, the other emotion, and then they don’t want to touch anything , even if it makes perfect sense in business terms.
Bio- fuel is a good thing, mainly in the hands of local and government run companies. My fear is multi-international firms using Our raw resources and selling back to Us, processed products at high prices that further puts Us into a deeper hole than We’re in already.
The same goes for Our crops, like tomatoes. We need more green (eco-friendly) factories to process Our own stuff to sell and compete with on the Global market.
I’d like to hear of higher taxes on stuff leaving Ghana’s boarders and more investments done within Our own scientific community to research and development of Our own raw products, before the West and East bleeds Us dry, as is being done with Our sister countries within Mother Africa.
its really something which we are not aware of in real.Its really how the person sitting on responsible posts in govt make a policy on a national level without knowing the pros and cons of the project and how it is going to effect the mass community .
It is good to understand several domestic and international companies are coming forward for establishing Jatropha Plants for developing feedstock for Biodiesel Production.
For successful development of Jatropha plantations for higher production of seed yield requires the following thinks:
1. Quality Planting Materials
2. Less variation in temperature (between seasons)
3. Well distributed Rainfall (800 to 1500 mm per Annum)
4. Soil Type and Its fertility Status
5. Agronomic package of practices for the region
6. Sufficient Manpower should be available
7. Local Government Support
In India we have done so far 3,50,000 Acres of Jatropha Plantations through Contract Farming and having buyback agreement for 30 years.
I think the Picture doesn’t look so Gloomy in Sudan.After eight month of Planting seedlings..trees are baring fruit.Sudan has more marginal land than any othe african country.so can offer more for Jatropha.unfountaely No foreign com.is yet Interested,only ourslves in our Pilot Project ,trees are baring fruits.We are now planning to Plant more land..and we have an option for 10,000 acres to Plant ,if we find afinance partner.
Agriculture and human livestock are not a play
As agronomist, I told to the proponents of large scale Jatropha in poor land that EVERY plant needs well irrigated and fertile soil to grow wealthy and to give high yield. So does the Jatropha, of course! That’s the reason why poor lands are “wastelands” and were not yet investigated by industry of food- and non-food crops. Well, it is possible to help plant growing by adding fertilizers and by irrigation, but these increase the costs. However, the industry looks for less cost for higher income and for land not far from factory or harbour and easy access. On another side, the farmers living on bad land are generally not rich. So, the trends will be to grow the ‘magic’ non-food crop in food-crop land as a little more fertile. Moreover, on an agricultural point of view, adding mineral fertilizers in a soil containing less organic matter induces a loss of fertility ! This brings a vicious circle. The international company can move its business when land reminds fewer interests. The case is different for inhabitants and farmers.
On another side, the main problem of industrial agriculture, whatever the crop, is the competition between local human livestock, including biodiversity and resources from ‘wasteland’, and corporate investments. AEFJN members are concerned about the good opportunities of biofuels crops for people and the respect of their rights to access to land and to water and the protection of biodiversity. A good deal may be obtained when people previously well informed are considered as stakeholders by their government and get a place to negotiate with managers of companies not over lopping the laws, both traditional and modern. That is the struggle.
I’ve not read much on jatropha and seeing this article brings some perspective on the crop and business aspect that I didn’t know about. The numerous companies that are involved will probably mitigate the “economic failures” and give jatropha a chance to actually work in Ghana due to the atmosphere of competition that would come out of it.
I personally would like for the relationship in the biofuel industry to be stronger with Brazil. It has a proven model especially when it comes to cane ethanol.
May i request anyone to define the definition of Wastleand ?
I find it very disgracing and shameful when i read things like this,when Africa or to say Ghana’s got so much hectares of planting land, how come we are always crying for prices of food.Instead of giving land for jatropha that will render fertile soil in a couple of years infertile.So what happens when this companies do not succeed.They waste the land and then go away.It will even sound well if the money for ordering of this lands will be used beneficially.I think Ghanaians live mainly on Maise and other cereals,so why dont we look for farmers that will help our farmer to plant more by the help of machinery and technics.I think it will even sound a little nice when this companies produce this biofuel in Ghana then Ghana can benefit a litle from this but no.They export this and then produce for Ghana to buy later and the cost more than all the hectares of land we gave out.Please am on my knees now,when you are a journalist try bring this topic higher or to light.
Thank you
William
Oh I am so glad to see your document about jatropha platation, I would like to plant it in community but I know about it not clearly and not have experience before. Could you advice me jatropha plantation and send it to me ?
Sometimes even big companies make bigger mistakes. Fortunately in these situation small people and farmers from both India and Ghana benefited a lot as expenses of these fools.
The solution to this problem is to grow moringa instead of jatropha. Moringa seeds contain 30-40 percent oil which is edible, of great nutritional value, and can produce some one of the finest grades of biofuel. The leaves can be eaten by humans and livestock and contain very high amounts of essential vitamins, protein, and calcium. The leaves can be used as fertilizer when turned into the soil and provide the earth with large amounts of nitrogen and other nutrients to such an extent that desert can be turned into fertile land as moringa grows and drops leaves onto the soil. The tree can be intercropped with other food crops providing them with shelter from the wind and nitrogen from composing leaves. The shells of the seed can also be used to purify water. This resolves the entire debate on where biofuel producing crops will cause food shortages. Moringa kills three birds with one stone. It can be used to produce biofuel, provide humans with food, and animals with feed offsetting the growth of crops that would normally be used to feed livestock that can then be directed to meet the growing food demands of the world.
The main problem here is simple: IMPATIENCE!
The other problem is that it is “Fuel” companies just buying up land and planting a bunch of trees they know nothing about.
The solution is simple: Biofuels are a long-term investment; the assumption here is that you can just plant a tree and miraculously have gallons of oil. It is not that simple. Yes, the Jatropha tree does produce a high-quality bio-diesel, and yes, it can grow in poor desert soils. The problem is that any tree can survive in its most basic growing conditions, but in order to thrive and actually produce fruit it must have ADEQUATE conditions, including water and nutrients. To assume that the tree will prduce nuts without any care in the desert is downright insane. No crop will produce seeds under such conditions, all plants will store their energy simply to survive under such circumstances.
Jatropha CAN be a great bio-diesel crop on currently marginal land. But it requires Horticulturists, not Fuel companies, to do the initial research. It is a tree, and trees do not produce fruit for the first few years; it is a long-term investment, just like timber-farming. Do not give up on this tree. Jatropha has not yet been cultivated to produce high yields like other tree crops, but such reseach has great potential. Screw the fuel companies, contact the Cornell Cooperative Extension in New York; they have researched and bred more trees for vigor, diease resistance and fruit production than anyone else in the world. They know that this cannot happen overnight, that is not the way trees work. In the long-term tree-oil crops will be a much better use of land for producing bio-fuels than annual crops (beans, corn) ever will be. Once a tree is fully established it will not need as much water, and its roots will prevent soil erosion. I wish that high-oil content nuts would grow on trees in the cold north,’ I’d plant them myself. Unfortunately all high-oil nuts grow in the tropics, and it seems that the countries in those areas are unable to see the long-term benefits of tree cultivation. Do not rely upon fly-by-night oil companies to do this and then just let the land fall fallow when they walk away; take the initiative yourselves and call in some good horticulturists.
Here is a TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED IN THE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, BANGALORE WHICH GIVES THE MOST NEEDED FINANCIAL SECURITY AND SELF RESPECT TO THE FARMERS. THEY ARE MORE LIKELY TO STICK ON TO FARMING AND FEED THE WHOLE WORLD. By growing Simarouba glauca in the drylands and wastelands in rural areas of tropical regions, the whole world can have (1) surplus edible oil (2) surplus biodiesel, (3) surplus ethanol, (4) surplus biomanure (5) surplus timber and (6) surplus bioelectricity in just two decades time, that too in a sustainable way.
The visionaries in NCB, FAO, WHO, ICRAF, CGIAR and other organizations have to recognize the importance of this technology and implement it systematically and effectively to usher evergreen revolution in all the tropical countries at global level.
——“SIMAROUBA GLAUCA CULTIVATION FOR EVERGREEN REVOLUTION”——-
THIS WORKABLE SYSTEM CAN BE EASILY ADOPTED IN INDIA AND IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES ALSO AT GLOBAL LEVEL. THIS VERSATILE TREE CAN BE GROWN AS AN INTERCROP ALONG WITH THE TRADITIONAL ANNUAL CROPS WITHOUT DECREASING THE REGULAR ANNUAL FOOD PRODUCTION. Once established, this ecofriendly tree showers following benefits on growers year after year for more than 60 years, irrespective of erratic rainfall.
1. The seeds give about one ton good quality edible oil worth about Rs.30,000/ha/year. 2. The surplus oil produced can be easily trans-esterified and converted into biodiesel (FIRST GENERATION BIOFUELS) to take care of the very much needed energy requirements. 3. The oilcake (one ton/ha/year) with about 8% nitrogen is good organic manure that can fulfill the fertiliser requirements of the farmers. Its money value is about Rs.10,000/ha 4. The fruit pulp with about 12% sugar can produce as much as 10,000 liters of beverage/ha/year. The waste fruit pulp also can be gainfully employed to manufacture ethanol (to blend with petrol) (FIRST GENERATION BIOFUELS). The agricultural waste (biomass) such as shell, unwanted branches, and leaf litter (about 15 tons/ha) can be easily used to produce SECOND GENERATION BIOFUELS. This carbon neutral technology is perfectly sustainable and for the production of biofuels there is no need to destroy the virgin forests. Instead these trees help in preserving the forests since the pressure on the demand for wood is easily met by the fast growing Simarouba. 5. The leaf litter is relished very much by earthworms and it can used to produce vermicompost or compost of about 10 tons/ha/year worth Rs.30,000/ha. 6. From about 500 trees in a hectare the farmer can fell about 50 trees every year and sell for about Rs.50,000/- as it is good timber as well as fuel wood. 7. APART FROM THESE MONETARY BENEFITS, THE DECOCTION FROM LEAVES OF THE TREE (HARVESTED IN A SUSTAINABLE MANNER) IS PROVEN ANTIVIRAL, ANTIBACTERIAL, ANTIAMOEBIC, ANTIMALARIAL, ANTIHELMENTIC, ANTIULCEROUS, ANTITUMOROUS, ANTICANCEROUS, ANTILEUKEMIC. THIS ENABLES THE POOR VILLAGERS TO HAVE EASY ACCESS TO CURE MANY HUMAN AND LIVESTOCK AILMENTS WITH ALMOST NO FINANCIAL BURDEN. 8. Cultivation of this tree as an intercrop without disturbing the regular food production gives an additional financial benefit of Rs.50,000/ha/year every year without fail, irrespective of the vagaries in rainfall. Thus, it gives stability at microeconomics level to the poor farmers. 9. A nation like India with about 100 million ha of land (dryland and wasteland put together) can easily attain self sufficiency in the production of edible oil, biodiesel, organic fertilisers, vermicompost, timber, just in a matter of two decades and attain stability at macroeconomics level. 10. To establish one tree it requires just Re.one only, that is Rs.500/ha, to an actual cultivator. The gestation period is about 5 years and it attains stability in production by about 10 years. 11. Its cultivation helps in establishing industries concerned to the production of first and second generation biofuels, edible oil, vegetable butter, margarine, lubricants, soaps, shampoos, other cosmetics, beverages, electricity, thermal power generation, timber, pharmaceuticals etc. at village level and thus helps in creating income generating green jobs to crores of villagers. This gives livelihood to more than 30% of the population.12. This evergreen tree cultivation helps in preventing soil erosion, improving ground water position, combating desertification and checking greenhouse effect and global warming. 13. AFTER ATTAINING ECONOMIC PROSPERITY, THE VILLAGERS MAY BE ADVISED TO ESTABLISH THEIR OWN STANDARD EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AT THE RURAL LEVEL INVITING THE DEDICATED AND EFFICIENT TEACHERS TO IMPART BEST EDUCATION TO THEIR CHILDREN. THIS WILL AUTOMATICALLY SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF POPULATION EXPLOSON, POLLUTION TERRORISM etc. The additional money generated at the rural level may also be wisely invested in developing infrastructure such as water supply, sanitation, incessant electricity supply, medical facilities, transport etc. ALL THESE RESULT IN ECONOMIC SECURITY, FOOD SECURITY, BIOMANURE SECURITY, HEALTH SECURITY, FUEL SECURITY, POWER (ELECTRICITY) SECURITY, EDUCATIONAL SECURITY, EMPLOYMENT SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY AT THE RURAL AND GLOBAL LEVEL. This discourages villagers from migrating to urban areas. No wonder if reverse migration begins to take place from urban to rural areas in due course of time. References: Google search: Simarouba glauca cultivation; Simarouba medicine; Simarouba glauca – Wikipedia; Simarouba Bangalore Mirror. Contact address: Dr. Syamasundar Joshi and Dr. Shantha Joshi; 23, R.B.I. Colony, Anandanagar, Bangalore; Mob:(0)94486 84021; E mail joshi.sim@gmail.com
Ghanaian’s are addicted to imported products, any thing produced locally is not the best, why?. How do we create jobs, income etc to improve living conditions.
I will say despite all the -ves, lets support the project locally, research, . ..is our time to make good use of it.