Jatropha is seen by many to be the perfect biodiesel crop. It can be grown in very poor soils, it improves the topsoil, it is drought and pest resilient, and it has seeds with up to 40% oil content.

Here is a summary about Jatropha relating to its growth as an oil product:

• The quality of the biodiesel from Jatropha is superior to corn or soybean oil at much lower costs. Its quality is also better because it does not require extensive refining for use in cooking stoves, only a simple “transesterification” will improve the purity for use as a fuel for cars and diesel engines for ships and backup power in buildings.

• Jatropha grows well on low-fertility soils; however, increased yields can be obtained using Jatropha seedcake as an organic fertilizer.

• Jatropha should be intercropped with many cash crops, such as coffee, sugar, fruits, and vegetables.

• Jatropha needs at least 600 mm of rain annually to thrive; however, it can survive 3 years of drought by dropping its leaves. As mentioned previously, less water means lower yields.

• Jatropha is excellent at preventing soil erosion and the leaves it drops act as a wonderful soil-enriching mulch. This is like placing a protective cover over the soil to retain moisture, reduce erosion, provide nutrients, and suppress weed growing.

• Jatropha prefers alkaline soils.

• Jatropha seedlings yield seeds in the first year when planted in a plantation.

• Jatropha trees are productive for up to 40-50 years.

• Between 1600 and 2200 trees can be planted per hectare (approximately 1000 per acre).

• One hectare should yield around 6 tonnes of seeds per year, out of which 2.0-2.5 tonnes of crude Jatropha oil can be pressed.

• Press cake (seedcake) is left after the oil is pressed from the seeds. This can be composted and used as a high-grade nitrogen-rich organic fertilizer. This is commercially the most interesting part of growing Jatropha, not the oil. The profit margins are great: with an investment of around $30 per tonne, seedcake at present can be sold for around $150-170 a tonne in China and demand is high. Organic fertilizers based on Jatropha are, for instance, used in the tobacco plantations in Yunnan. The remaining oil from the seedcake can be used to make skin-friendly soap.

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