Jatropha planting schemes fail to bear fruit

[rgiridhar]

Mint 21-Nov-07

Jatropha may secure energy, but planting schemes fail to bear fruit
By Maitreyee Handique

The government has announced a support price of Rs6.50 a kg, but market prices have hit Rs30-50 a kg


Kesla Gaon, Chhattisgarh: Every week, Sumit Sarkar and his sport utility vehicle cover 3,000km across Chhattisgarh in search of the perennial green bush, jatropha—the seeds of which might help guarantee the country’s future energy security.

But the “green gold”, as the dark berry-shaped seeds that are crushed to help produce biofuel are called, remain very difficult to find.
“We will be lucky if we get 2,000 tonnes of seeds this year,” says Sarkar, the 36-year-old regional manager of D1 Oils Plc., a biofuel firm listed on  the  London Stock Exchange.

D1 Oils, in which BP Plc. has recently picked up 50% equity, has set up a 21,000 tonnes-a-year biofuel plant in the western Tamil Nadu town of Coimbatore in a joint venture with Mohan Breweries & Distilleries Ltd.
D1 Oil is scouring for seeds in different parts of the country, including Chhattisgarh. The new partnership firm, D1 BP Fuel Crops Ltd, plans to spend Rs50 crore to set up eight more expellers, or oil extraction plants, in the state where the government’s much-hyped jatropha plantation drive was launched two years ago.

In a symbolic statement of Chhattisgarh’s support to promoting both the cultivation and use of alternative energy, chief minister Raman Singh’s official car runs on biofuel. But elsewhere, the hunt goes on for jatropha, locally known as bagaranda.

Last year, daily wage earner Santosh Yadav, who lives in Garka village in central Chhattisgarh, assisted in planting 4,000 saplings along a 2km stretch of the national highway known as Singanpur. Today, only half the saplings survive.
“We’ve heard these plants will give us petrol and diesel. But we can’t see it,” says Yadav, who earned an average Rs67 a day for the fortnight he worked through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

About 290 million saplings have been planted by separate government agencies across the state’s fallow land, covering roughly 1.6 million hectares (mha). Under NREGS, about Rs55 crore was spent to plant jatropha.
Of these, one-fourth was planted in 2005, in anticipation of the plants bearing fruit this season. But poor survival rates and diversion of seeds to cater to larger plantation efforts by the government left several companies scrambling.
While the government has announced a minimum support price of Rs6.50 a kg, market price has hit Rs30-50 a kg with growing demand.

Companies, such as D1 Oils and Reliance Life Sciences (Pvt.) Ltd, part of the Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Group, are turning to women self-help groups and other networks to procure seeds .

Emami Group—which has set up a 100,000 tonnes biofuel plant in Haldia, West Bengal—was the first company to approach the state for contract farming three years ago, but has not heard from the government yet. According to a company official who did not want to be named, Emami now plans to import palm oil to make biofuel.

Reliance Life, meanwhile, entered an agreement with the local farmer-led Agricon Entrepreneurs Ltd to purchase seeds. Reliance did not reply to email queries, but Sanket Thakur, Agricon’s managing director, said it plans to procure seeds from 10,000ha with the help of village communities in the southern district of Bastar.

On a recent afternoon here, Sarkar pulled his jet-black Bolero on the roadside to survey a 10ha plantation in Kesla, 50-odd kilometres from the Madhya Pradesh border. He says he’s on a mission to create “enthusiasm” among villagers. Planted by the village watershed committee with free saplings from the government last year, some 30% of the 10,000 plantings have died due to lack of attention and water.

At the nearby village, he meets self-help group members, who are collecting seeds for a profit of Rs1.5 a kg. “You must build awareness and spread the word,” he urges them. Within a year, D1 Oils has engaged 25 such groups to collect seeds, covering 22,570ha.

While there are sporadic reports of seeds being exported to African countries, companies say part of the problem lies with the Centre of Biodiesel Development Authority, the overarching agency promoting jatropha in the state, failing to set up collection centres as planned. On Monday, the authority signed its first deal with Indian Oil Corp. Ltd to form a company to raise crop and procure seeds.

Experts say the state’s jatropha programme, which employs at least 200,000 labourers, took off before the Centre’s approval of the National Biofuel Mission, which calls for Rs1,500 crore spending on jatropha cultivation. A group of ministers, expected to meet last week, has postponed to mid-December.

According to an official in the rural development ministry drafting the biofuel policy, it’s too early to enter commercial production when little is known about the plant’s genetic make-up or appropriate agricultural practices.

Yet, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd, which conducted field trials on buses, Volvo trucks and forklifts three years ago, notes  a  decrease in air pollution. The tests, according to C.S. Krishnaswamy, the company’s general manager for research & development, show emission rates down by 7%.

Even so, the company still finds it tough to procure seeds. Six months ago, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology in Uttaranchal for large-scale cultivation and funding of a tissue culture project. “Supply is negligible. Even if we were to blend 5%, we will need at least 13 million tonnes of biofuel,” says Krishnaswamy. Recommendations for blends range from a low 5% upward, the percentage referring to parts biofuel mixed with enough diesel to power an engine.

While Chhattisgarh is focusing on fallow land to raise plantation, the larger problem, says Padam Bhojvaid, a senior fellow at The Energy Resource Institute (Teri), is that jatropha cultivation presents a direct conflict with food security. “Growing it as pure crop will affect social effects of food security as people will grow what gives them money.”

But unlike rice and wheat, jatropha is not prone to drought, said Shailendra Shukla, executive director of the Raipur-based Central Biodiesel Authority. “A jatropha plant can provide income for 50 years and input costs are negligible,” he said.

Teri’s Bhojvaid, who is assisting BP to grow jatropha on 8,000ha in coastal Andhra Pradesh, says the deciding factor will be how much seed is available in the market. “It’s a simple demand supply calculation.”

[sanu]

Dear Sir,

Being a NGO of Sarvahit Wel Org, our org can be obliged by enclosing a hindi version cataloge for subject plantation sch. which enable the rural farmer in imparting the planning of said plantation.

Sincerely yours,


Saran

[sampadafarms]

Jatropha may secure energy, but planting schemes fail to bear fruit
By Maitreyee Handique

The government has announced a support price of Rs6.50 a kg, but market prices have hit Rs30-50 a kg.


Kesla Gaon, Chhattisgarh: Every week, Sumit Sarkar and his sport utility vehicle cover 3,000km across Chhattisgarh in search of the perennial green bush, jatropha—the seeds of which might help guarantee the country’s future energy security. But the “green gold”, as the dark berry-shaped seeds that are crushed to help produce biofuel are called, remain very difficult to find.. “We will be lucky if we get 2,000 tonnes of seeds this year,” says Sarkar, the 36-year-old regional manager of D1 Oils Plc., a biofuel firm listed on  the  London Stock Exchange.
A real and intelligent entrepreneur always depends on a reliable and organized source of raw material. If such source is not there he has to create the source or quit the industry. It’s a foolish act to search the areas for the seeds. There is no chance of getting them. How this guys run across? It is like searching for something in a black hole. In wild collection there is no guarantee of quality or quantity. It is the foolishness of the people who adopted this system. U can not apply this activity as a negative point to the status of the industry.

D1 Oils, in which BP Plc. has recently picked up 50% equity, has set up a 21,000 tons-a-year biofuel plant in the western Tamil Nadu town of Coimbatore in a joint venture with Mohan Breweries & Distilleries Ltd.

That calculates to 60 tons of bio fuel a day. To get this fuel, they have to crush 200 tons of seeds a day. Any one who worked for a small time on this industry will tell you that it is impossible to get 20 tons of seeds every day with out fail. When they are not sure about the availability of the seeds how they started a unit with such huge capacity? It’s a fooling act. Why this people are leading the industry to a confusion status?
D1 Oil is scouring for seeds in different parts of the country, including Chhattisgarh. The new partnership firm, D1 BP Fuel Crops Ltd, plans to spend Rs50 crore to set up eight more expellers, or oil extraction plants, in the state where the government’s much-hyped jatropha plantation drive was launched two years ago.

Instead of putting investment and efforts to increase the plantation for a assured raw material source, this company is investing crores of rupees on machineries. First, let them develop plantation in large areas by involving the local farmers. Educate them, guide them, support them and make them as the participants in the activity. Defenetly one can get the raw material from a reliable source with good uniform quality. Then, they can plan a industry according to the requirement of the plantation they developed.
In a symbolic statement of Chhattisgarh’s support to promoting both the cultivation and use of alternative energy, chief minister Raman Singh’s official car runs on biofuel. But elsewhere, the hunt goes on for jatropha, locally known as bagaranda.
What is wrong in it?

Last year, daily wage earner Santosh Yadav, who lives in Garka village in central Chhattisgarh, assisted in planting 4,000 saplings along a 2km stretch of the national highway known as Singanpur. Today, only half the saplings survive.
“We’ve heard these plants will give us petrol and diesel. But we can’t see it,” says Yadav, who earned an average Rs67 a day for the fortnight he worked through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
Jatropha never survives with out irrigation. Even though it survives yields are very poor. It is not like “plant it, forget it, get profit from it”. It needs irrigation, attention and maintenance.
About 290 million saplings have been planted by separate government agencies across the state’s fallow land, covering roughly 1.6 million hectares (mha). Under NREGS, about Rs55 crore was spent to plant jatropha.. Of these, one-fourth was planted in 2005, in anticipation of the plants bearing fruit this season. But poor survival rates and diversion of seeds to cater to larger plantation efforts by the government left several companies scrambling.
Let them plant one million million plants. With out care and irrigation u wont get yields. And most of things happen on papers. Money allotted for the schemes siphoned to other ways. Govt. should support the industry. Industry should plan for the plantation. Then, u can expect the results.
While the government has announced a minimum support price of Rs6.50 a kg, market price has hit Rs30-50 a kg with growing demand.
Most of this seeds are purchased for nurseries. Not for oil crushing. Once this private nursery activity is stopped price will com down. Industry only raise the nurseries to sell them to the farmers. Private people should be banned to raise the nurseries with a aim selling the plants. If the industry takes this job, they will take care of the things.


Reliance Life, meanwhile, entered an agreement with the local farmer-led Agricon Entrepreneurs Ltd to purchase seeds. Reliance did not reply to email queries, but Sanket Thakur, Agricon’s managing director, said it plans to procure seeds from 10,000ha with the help of village communities in the southern district of Bastar.
Purchasing seeds from wild and unorganized sector is not the answer. Plantations should be developed with the participation of farmers. Self help groups are not helpful. It is a suicidical act to the industry to depend on such sources for Jatropha seeds.
On a recent afternoon here, Sarkar pulled his jet-black Bolero on the roadside to survey a 10ha plantation in Kesla, 50-odd kilometres from the Madhya Pradesh border. He says he’s on a mission to create “enthusiasm” among villagers. Planted by the village watershed committee with free saplings from the government last year, some 30% of the 10,000 plantings have died due to lack of attention and water.
By this time another 50% will be on the edge of death. No water – No jatropha. This is true. U may plant n number of plants, there is no use. Even though they survive yields will be very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very poor.

At the nearby village, he meets self-help group members, who are collecting seeds for a profit of Rs1.5 a kg. “You must build awareness and spread the word,” he urges them. Within a year, D1 Oils has engaged 25 such groups to collect seeds, covering 22,570ha.
What is the outcome? Now are they getting seeds? Is it possible to cover 22,570 ha that is 56,000 acres with 25 self help groups? How much quantity of seeds they are getting from this 25 groups covering this 22,570 acres? Is it a statement of D 1 Oil or from the author of this artice?





Yet, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd, which conducted field trials on buses, Volvo trucks and forklifts three years ago, notes  a  decrease in air pollution. The tests, according to C.S. Krishnaswamy, the company’s general manager for research & development, show emission rates down by 7%.

Even so, the company still finds it tough to procure seeds. Six months ago, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology in Uttaranchal for large-scale cultivation and funding of a tissue culture project. “Supply is negligible. Even if we were to blend 5%, we will need at least 13 million tonnes of biofuel,” says Krishnaswamy. Recommendations for blends range from a low 5% upward, the percentage referring to parts biofuel mixed with enough diesel to power an engine.

While Chhattisgarh is focusing on fallow land to raise plantation, the larger problem, says Padam Bhojvaid, a senior fellow at The Energy Resource Institute (Teri), is that jatropha cultivation presents a direct conflict with food security. “Growing it as pure crop will affect social effects of food security as people will grow what gives them money.”
This is the statement of the people who are sitting in the cabins, getting info from the net or somewhere. Every body is weeping that there is no availability of seeds and there are no large scale plantations to fulfill the demand, this person states that Jatropha creates food security problem. It is a statement of a person who don’t have any basic information on the status of plantation.

But unlike rice and wheat, jatropha is not prone to drought, said Shailendra Shukla, executive director of the Raipur-based Central Biodiesel Authority. “A jatropha plant can provide income for 50 years and input costs are negligible,” he said.
Such statements mislead the entire community. How this respectable Sri Shailendra Shukla makes this false statement? It is a misguiding statement. People influenced by such statement cultivate jatropha and blame the Jatropha not this Gentlemen. Jatropha needs considerable maintenance and good inputs.

Teri’s Bhojvaid, who is assisting BP to grow jatropha on 8,000ha in coastal Andhra Pradesh, says the deciding factor will be how much seed is available in the market. “It’s a simple demand supply calculation.”
I am from Andhra Pradesh. I am a agri consultant. I never heard about this attempt and their efforts to raise 8000 ha in coastal Andhra.

Mr. Maitreye should answer for my comments. At the end what he wants to say? Let all of us know.



Regards
Raghu Ram
Sampada FArms & Consultants

[himanshu41]

I liked your suggetions. Can you send me the address of some farms who are growing Jatropha and earning from extracting oil and producing Biofuel. Send the details. I would visit that farm any where in India. I am interested in Jatropha plantation in surrounding to Nathdwara.

[divyas]

I found the article on Jatropha's failure to 'bear fruit' a very interesting read; this is hardly the first time I have heard the opinion, but the first time I'm confronted with evidence to support this opinion!

To say that Jatropha can grow in almost any climate might be accurate, but the real question is if it will bear fruit!

Right now, I'm seated in Southeast Asia, where the climate is much warmer and wetter, Jatropha farmers are claiming better outputs than those who are in the dryer climates.

I agree that there is a major seed shortage for Jatropha, and with so many biodiesel processing plants setting up shop in the next few years, the shortage seems all set to become even more acute! Maybe its time for Jatropha seeds to be directed towards biodiesel, rather than Jatropha nurseries!

Sampadafarms statement that about those who are dismissing Jatropha on socio-economic grounds rings very true. I always feel that Jatropha's success really hinges upon getting the right information about the crop and its agronomy, as well as learning from others who have successfully implimented a plantation.

There is a conference in January 23-24 2008, called JATROPHAWORLD 2008, which is basically looking at discussing the latest happenings in the Jatropha Markets. I think this will be a great place for all Jatropha investors to get updates and information, and air their concerns to industry experts.

I will be in Jakarta to air my opinions!

Do visit Jatropha World 2008 for more information on the event.

Sincerely,

Divya

[chirag]

We hear much about the jatropha cultivation. The real grower having good production of seeds, I am in search of such farmer . The one who is guinene may send there address so that our group can visit them . Any where in India will do.